Blake and Jaune's Infinite Playlist
by UhhICanExplain
Summary: The search for a famously elusive band brings two music lovers together in what might be the most eventful night of their lives. Based somewhat loosely off of Nick and Norah's infinite playlist. [Infinite Playlist AU]
1. Young Journey

**So before we get started, let's take care of some housekeeping.**

**This fic is probably not going to be exactly parallel to the movie this story is based on. Or maybe it will. I don't really want to use the movie as my template for this story, but I'm not the most inspired of writers, so I'll do my best to stray from the movie's plot, but no guarantees.**

**Also, why Blake and Jaune? For some reason, they work surprisingly well together. Most of the BlakexJaune fics I've read have been some of the better stories I've read, and especially in correspondence to Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, they work really well as the character's parallels.**

**Third, I don't have a set schedule for chapter release. I'm just working on this when I have time and/or feel inspired. Just so ya know.**

**Lastly, yes, I know I missed the opportunity to make this fic "[Blank] and _Nora__'s_ Infinite Playlist." But back to the point of character parallels: every character I put in place is there for a reason.**

**Without further ado (or my endless babbling), enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Young Journey**

* * *

"Hey Weiss, this is Jaune."

It was noon on a Saturday, and Jaune had decided that _maybe_ this time (the fifth time, to be exact, although Jaune would probably insist that it was only the fourth) his ex-girlfriend would pick up the phone. She had broken up with him seemingly out of the blue about three weeks ago, and Jaune had been periodically calling her since then, each time without fail leading to voicemail.

"So you're probably working right now, which I get. Y'know. Because you have to work to make money. I get that. Totally. I'm off today. Just working on demos with the band and such…"

He wasn't. In fact, he still hadn't gotten out of bed yet.

"… and I was just calling to check up on you. I hope you're doing alright. Or maybe great! Or… maybe you're not doing so well… which is why I checked up on you of course! Because I'm doing okay…"

He wasn't. The numerous photos of Weiss and himself still lined the walls of his apartment.

"… so I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay. I just… I really miss you. And I know we broke up on really bad terms, and well, I just hoped that maybe one of these days we could amend that. Because… well… I was hoping we could still be friends, even after what happened. I'm still not sure what happened. But I'd like to make it up to you."

Finally getting out of bed, he stumbled towards his pantry and grabbed the first box of Pumpkin Pete's that he could reach and set it next to an unclean bowl. Opening a rather empty refrigerator, he pulled out a half-gallon jug of milk, sniffed the contents (which, unbeknownst to Jaune, were expired by a day) and poured himself bowl.

"I would also like to tell you that all those mixtapes I kept sending you? I'll probably stop making those, since I've become a little pressed for time between the band and work…" Jaune started at the all-too enthusiastic alert coming from his laptop as it spat out a freshly burned disk. "Probably."

He walked towards one of the few and somewhat dismal-looking windows and shielded his face from the sun as he looked out. "So maybe soon we can talk a bit. See where we stand. See where we wanted to go from here. I just hope you're doing well! That's all. So just… stay cool, I guess, and I… I'll talk to you later. Bye."

_**Beep.**_

"_Your message has been deleted! To record a new one, press 1."_

"Fuck."

* * *

Blake sighed tiredly as she placed the last of the new shipment of books in their places on the fiction shelves of Tukson's Bookstore, which had recently expanded and become a mecca of sorts for Vale's book lovers. It had been paradise for Blake as well – until she picked up a job there. The recent expansion didn't come without its fair influx of customers, and the business certainly kept Blake on her toes. How people kept finding time to explore the store's wealth of literature was beyond Blake, but it irked her to no end that she had not progressed a single page of the book she had brought to read in her free time since last month.

She checked the time on her phone and with some small satisfaction realized that it was her break. _And not a moment too soon,_ she thought to herself. Blake checked herself out in the back, plugged in her iPod and headphones, and made a beeline towards the coffee joint across the street, walking to the tune of Casey and the Red Rosies newest single.

"_Whenever I think of you_

_How I wish you only knew_

_That you might be my dream come true_

_But what do I have to do to make you notice me?"_

As she opened the door of the coffee shop, the blonde girl behind the counter waved excitedly at her, and Blake waved back politely as she walked up to the counter, pulling down her headphones.

"Hey there, kitty-cat!" said the smiling barista.

Blake smiled back. "Hi Yang. You look excited. What's up?"

Yang grinned even wider. "Oh nothing. I'll tell you about it in a little bit, but let me get you something to drink first, eh?"

"Sure. I'll have the hazelnut macchiato, medium please. And one of those tuna salads, while you're at it." Blake reached for her wallet.

Yang nodded, still grinning. "Coming right up!" She whipped up the coffee and salad, and went behind the cash register to process the change. "We're not too busy right now, so grab a table and I'll join you in a sec!"

Blake set her food and coffee down on one of the many empty tables in the shop. Yang walked briskly over to the table and pulled up a seat. "So you'll never believe this. It just so happens that-"

The door of the coffee shop creaked open once more, and a short girl with hair the color snow strode up to their table. "Hey you two." She smiled thinly at Blake and Yang.

"Heya, Weiss!" said Yang in her ever-so-bright manner.

"Hey," said Blake less enthusiastically.

"I just got a break from the dust shop. Or actually, I got Neptune to take up my shift in exchange for a cup of coffee." Weiss sighed nonchalantly as she reached inside her handbag. "I don't think I'll get him one, though. Money is money. Plus, I've got the boy on a leash, so he won't know any better."

She pulled out CD in a very well-decorated cardboard casing. "The dunce made another mixtape. Can you believe how desperate the loser is?" she smirked and proceeded to throw it in the trash bin. "Anyways, I'm going to grab something then go shopping with all this time on my hands!" She waved goodbye and walked up to the counter where a second barista took her order.

Blake scowled at the girl in white as she grabbed her order and left. After a few seconds she walked over to the trash bin and pulled out the cased disk and walked back to the table.

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Well, aren't you a little obsessive," she said teasingly.

Blake rolled her eyes. "I'm not obsessive! Her ex just makes really good mixtapes."

"I don't know, pulling out some guy's trash on a regular basis sounds like obsession to me."

"Call it what you want. I've never even met the guy." Blake pulled the CD out of its casing. "'The Closure Tapes, Pt 8?' Holy shit. I can't imagine what that bitch did to the poor guy."

Yang smirked. "Are you sure you're just in it for the music? You seem to care a lot about the guy."

Blake glared at her. "Shut up. I'm just going to burn the disk and put the music on my iPod. Nothing more, nothing less." She put the disk away. "So what were _you_ so excited about?"

Yang grinned, a twinkle in her eye. "Wellllllll…"

* * *

Jaune sighed as he polished his bass for the second time that day. It was a slow and ridiculously boring process, but at least it kept his mind off of things like… like Weiss.

Growling, he vigorously shook his head and reached down to grab more polish – only to realize he had run out.

"Shit," he muttered and vehemently kicked the empty bottle across the room. The blonde haired boy looked around the room for hopefully another bottle of guitar polish when his eyes settled on the newly decorated mixtape on the corner of his desk, with the words "The Closure Tapes, Pt 9" scrawled on the disk, and suddenly Weiss flooded his head uninvited once more.

Before he could gather his thoughts, he heard a certain car horn honking to the tune of Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" wailing down his street. Jaune ambled over to his window peered out just in time to witness a brown van careening into the trash and recycling bins below. The van stopped abruptly and a boy with black hair and a pink strand stuck his head out the driver's window.

"Huh. That's new," he said with a frown. He glanced up at Jaune. "That _is_ new, right?"

Jaune groaned. "No, it's not new, Ren. That's there every damn week, dude."

Ren looked back at the mess of trash, then back up at Jaune. "I meant all this garbage all over the place," he called out. "That's new. I mean, isn't this technically littering? You could get fined for that."

Jaune sighed as he pulled on a pair of sweats and went down to meet Ren as well as Ren's bubbly orange haired female passenger.

"Jauney!" She ran up to Jaune and gave him a spine crushing hug, and scrunched her nose. "Goddamn, dude. How long have _you_ been dead for?"

Jaune rolled his eyes. "I'm alive and well, Nora, thank you very much." He let go of her. "Listen you guys, I'm not gonna go tonight."

"What!? That's bullcrap!" Nora frowned at him. "C'mon, Jauney, you're just messing with us, right?"

"I just… I'm not feeling very well today. Go out and have some fun, just the two of you."

Nora grabbed the blonde boy by the shoulders. "Jauneeeeeeyy, you _know_ we have a gig today, buddy."

Ren stepped in holding a dog-sized box. "This is our first gig in weeks, Jaune."

"_Aaaaand_ we finally have name, too!" Nora danced around them excitedly. "From now on, we're The Juniperberries!"

Jaune cocked his head. "The what?"

"The Juniperberries! You know, like The Cranberries!"

Jaune sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time that day. "See, the difference between the two is that The Juniperberries doesn't quite roll off the tongue very well. It sounds terrible."

Nora grinned and punched his arm. "Only because we're not famous yet," she said in a sing-songy tone.

"We also have a drummer now," Ren added.

Jaune stared at him. This was the best news he'd heard in weeks. "We do?"

"Yup." As Nora gave an eager drumroll, Ren opened the box and pulled out a digital compact drum machine. "Ah?"

Jaune facepalmed. "You're serious? That's not even a real drum machine. That's like one of those toys you get at Vale's Electronics."

Nora beamed. "That's where we got it! Speaking of which, you ever notice that the owner looks like the same guy who owns A Simple Wok?"

Jaune sighed. Again. "So who's gonna… uh… play it?"

Ren pointed towards Jaune. "You, buddy."

And all of a sudden, it was the worst news he'd heard in weeks.

Jaune, exasperated, turned back towards his apartment. "Yeah, you can go on without me. You guys found a drum machine; I bet you can find a bass machine as well."

Nora started, "W-wait Jauney! Look we know you've been pretty depressed since Weiss left and all, but it's been three weeks, bud. That 'woe is me' shit's getting old, okay?"

Ren joined in, "It's okay to be heartbroken over these kinds of things, but you just have to move on. Wasting away in your apartment isn't going to do anyone any good, least of all you. So come play the gig with us, and then we can go get drinks or something. You deserve to have some fun, Jaune."

Nora grinned. "Yeah! Let's all get drunk tonight! And maybe you can score with some hottie at the club and then I betcha the White Bitch of Narnia will just be a distant memory of the past!"

"You guys… I don't know, man, being single's just really hard," grumbled Jaune. "I mean, you two have been together since forever ago! I just gotta deal with this in my own way, okay?"

Ren and Nora looked at each other and shrugged. Before they could say anything, the van's radio caught the trio's attention.

"_This is Beacon Radio, your source for all things indie, weird and otherwise! Fans of Casey and the Red Rosies will be thrilled with this tidbit we managed to gather! For the first time in forever, it seems that 'this will be the day' – or night, rather - that Casey and the Red Rosies will be performing somewhere in the city of Vale. The most elusive band in Remnant is rumored to be playing at around midnight tonight, so keep your ears and eyes open for any clues you can find! Otherwise, you may just find yourselves in the rose petals they've left behind if you're too slow!"_

All was still for a moment. Then Ren and Nora looked to Jaune with excitement in their faces. "C'mon Jauney," pleaded Nora. "Casey and the Red Rosies! Our favorite band ever; who knows when they'll play again?"

It was true. Publicity-shy, Casey and the Red Rosies seldom played a public show, and when they did, the location on the band's concert would be spread around the city in the most cryptic of ways, usually through graphic clues and well-hidden messages amongst the cracks and crevices of the city, although you could never be too sure.

Nora grabbed Jaune by the shoulders and gave him her best puppy eyes. "Please Jauney? You can't say no to Casey!"

Jaune looked from Nora, to Ren, then back to Nora. He sighed once more. Then managed a smile.

"Sure."

"YEEESSSSSSSS!" Nora whooped, excitedly jumping towards Ren and giving him a smooch. "We did it, Ren! We're gonna go see Casey with Jauney!"

Ren grinned and wrapped his arms around the girl. "Go get your stuff, Jaune. And for crying out loud, clean yourself up."

Jaune nodded. "Will do."

He turned and walked back into his apartment, a smile playing on his lips. _Dammit,_ he thought. _Their enthusiasm's too infectious. _Before closing the door behind him, he called out towards the van.

"I'm gonna drive my own car!"

* * *

**How'd that go? Criticism is very welcome: I only aim to please.**

**I don't really want to make Yang the hopelessly drunken friend in the story, but I'm not sure what else I could do. Any ideas?**

**Last point of order: if someone wants to make a cover pic for this fic (hehe), I would definitely not be opposed.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Get Away

**I present to you the next chapter of Blake &amp; Jaune's Infinite Playlist! A bit of this took quite a bit of rewriting, but I think I'm happy with the way it turned out now. Enjoy!**

**Beta: Maxaro. Thanks, buddy!**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Get Away**

* * *

"Hey. Aren't you excited?"

"I'm excited."

"You don't look excited."

Blake frowned. "I _am _excited. Is it so bad that I don't look it?"

"Yup." Yang grabbed her friend by the shoulders. "This is Casey and the Red Rosies we're talking about. The band that _never_ plays shows! It wouldn't hurt to look a little bit excited."

It was around 5 pm and the pair had just gotten off of work at their respective work places. They were currently exiting Yang's apartment after a brief change of clothes and chatting a bit with her sister and roommate, Ruby, who was busy studying to for her upcoming college midterms.

Blake checked the time on her phone and tugged the bow covering her cat ears into a more comfortable position. "Look, I know I'm not the most enthusiastic looking person on the face of the planet, but trust me one this, I'm very excited. I bet I'm more excited than you."

Yang laughed heartily. "For Casey? No way. I'm the most excited person on Remnant at this very moment and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise!"

Blake gulped. "About that… can you not get super shit-faced drunk tonight and pick fights with everyone you meet? That's ruined a night or two in the past, you know."

"Are you saying I can't handle my booze, kitty-cat?"

"Not at all. In fact, you handle your booze a little too well, and I'm not fond of getting stuck with a 600 lien tab while you wreck the bar and everyone in it."

"That was a one-time thing." Yang rubbed Blake's cat ears. "But I know that was reckless of me. I promise not to do that again, and if I get too far, I give you the authority to knock me out."

Blake growled irritably as she went to reposition the bow that she'd just fixed before Yang messed it up. "I'll be sure to remember. What do you want to do before we go find Casey?"

Yang began, "Well, there's this-"

"Hey Yang." The pair turned around to see Weiss striding up to them from the same apartment Yang lived in. "Oh my God, I'm so excited for the Casey and the Roses show tonight. I love that band so much."

Blake's eyes narrowed. "It's Casey and the Red Rosies."

Weiss threw her glare, the same kind of glare you would throw at someone who had just pissed on your shoes. "Whatever. I'm bringing Neptune along. He treats me like a queen, so it can't be too hard to drag him places."

"Does he call you queen? Maybe 'Ice Queen', perhaps?" said Blake with a scowl.

Weiss turned her full attention on the black haired girl and regarded her coolly. "I'm surprised Yang hasn't put a shock collar on you yet."

Blake's blood began to boil, but before she could do anything rash, Yang intervened. "Okay girls, we're all friends here, no need to get in a ca- fight! No need to get in a fight." She glanced at Blake nervously, hoping her slip-up wouldn't anger her friend further.

Weiss hmphed. "I was only kidding. No need to get uptight." She turned back to Yang. "I guess I'll see you at the show!" she snapped icily before walking off towards the other apartments, presumably Neptune's.

Yang waved halfheartedly, and when Weiss was far enough away, Yang chided Blake. "Did you have to go and piss her off, out of all people?"

Blake hissed, "I don't care for people like her. You know that. She can get buried under six feet of dust, for all I care."

Yang chuckled. "And here I was think _I _was the volatile one. Don't let her get on your nerves. Besides, we've been friends with her since high school. I don't know. She _could _get better, right"

Blake glowered at her friend, unconvinced.

Yang laughed nervously. "Yeah, who am I kidding… Anyway, there's this up-and-coming band called The Juniperberries playing at the bar at 6:00. I kinda wanna go check them out before finding Casey. What do ya say?"

"Sounds like a Cranberries rip-off band." Blake sighed. "But it could be fun. Let's go."

Yang grinned. "YESSS! I feel like this could be the best night ever! We're gonna go see Casey and the Red Rosies!" And as she waved eagerly for a cab, Blake couldn't help but smile as the excitement of seeing the infamous band bubbled in her chest and soon they were on their way to the club in question.

* * *

And only several miles away, in a different part of town, a blonde boy started his beat up old Crown Victoria (which was painted an obnoxious coat of yellow, effectively giving it the appearance of a taxicab, much to Jaune's chagrin) and drove the sputtering car, his bass in the back, towards the same bar with decidedly much less enthusiasm.

* * *

"_Riiiiiiiiiiise and shiiiiiiiiiine,_

_Buuuuuuuuuurn and gloooooooooow!_

_Riiiiiiiiiiise and shiiiiiiiiiine,_

_Heeeeeeeeeere I goooooooooo!"_

Blake swayed in time with the thumping guitar groove and bassline of the band currently on stage. The floor of the bar wasn't awfully crowded that night, which was good in Blake's mind. Too many people would mean pushing and shoving, which easily took away from Blake's enjoyment of the music that they had come to watch. _But this,_ she thought to herself as she closed her eyes, _this… is perfect._

She opened them back up and let her eyes drift between the band members. Somehow they were missing a drummer and in its place sat a digital drum toy, to which Blake snickered at. On the far left, the dark haired guitarist had an impassive look on his face as his fingers lazily fluttered along the neck of his guitar. She also noticed a bit of pink in his hair, which made her raise an eyebrow. _Nice choice._

Her gaze shifted to the energetic frontwoman with ginger-orange hair. Blake noted that she was a natural at what she did, as she bounced back and forth across the stage, hair and sweat plastered on her face. It was amazing how well she played to the crowd, drawing them in in with every word, and out of the three band members on stage, Blake decided that the she was enjoying herself the most.

Finally, her eyes settled on the bassist. He had shock of unkempt blonde hair and provided backing vocals as well as the earthshaking bassline. What bothered Blake, however, was how the boy remained stiff and unmoving throughout the concert, as if he didn't want to be there. The bassist's eyes remained firmly on the strings of his bass, and Blake couldn't help but wonder if the boy was even aware that he was playing a show.

Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around Blake, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she frantically twisted to catch a glimpse of whoever was trying grab at her.

Instead she came face to face with a slightly inebriated Yang.

"Hey lil' mama, lemme whisper in ya ear," said Yang, grinning. Blake immediately picked up on the strong waft of alcohol emitting from Yang's mouth.

Sighing, Blake grasped the arms wrapped around her shoulders. "Hey, Yang." She turned her attention back to the band. "How much have you been drinking?"

Yang chuckled. "Not enough, kitty-cat!" she declared, and she positioned her chin gently on Blake's shoulder. "Don't worry, I promise I'm pacing myself."

Blake smiled in spite of herself. "That's all I want you to do. Honestly, I'd still rather hang with you than… well…" She looked a little to the left of her and managed to make out the white that was the top of Weiss's head as she danced with her new blue-haired boy toy.

"Oh, just pretend they're not here, alright?" Yang gave her friend a squeeze, and Blake squeezed back fondly.

As they danced, entwined, to the pounding riffs, Yang smirked and added, "You seem quite enamored with blondie over there."

"No, Yang, I don't want to make out with you," Blake sassed, which she only ever did in the company of her best friend.

Yang rolled her eyes. "I meant tall, blonde, and scraggly on the bass. You've been staring at him for a while."

"Oh hush," muttered Blake. She realized that she _had,_ indeed, been staring at the boy. "He just seems… really out of place."

"You have to admit, he is pretty cute, though. Right, Blakey?"

"I'd just like to enjoy the show, thank you very much."

"C'mon, kitty-cat. I know you don't just stare at anyone."

Blake remained silent.

"Just say it, kitty-cat."

Blake sighed. "It, kitty-cat."

"You're no fun," said Yang with a frown.

* * *

The band wrapped their last song, and the orange-haired girl grabbed the mic and spoke over the ongoing drum beats. "Thank you! We are The Juniperberries! Thank you everyone for coming out tonight and we hope you have a wonderful eveni-" Nora paused and stared blankly at the drum machine, which had now started spitting out a hip-hop beat as Jaune fiddled with it frantically in an attempt to turn it off. The audience started to groan and a couple boos emanated from the crowd.

"H-hey folks, give him a break, he's been having a hard time," boomed Nora across the mic, which quelled a few of the naysayers; unfortunately, some of the hecklers remained adamant.

"That boy would do better as a fuckin' mic stand!" yelled a rowdy patron, and a few "Yeahs!" backed him up, to which Jaune winced, dejected. He fumbled through a few more beats before Ren walked over and yanked out the auxiliary cord, effectively killing the rampant drum machine and leaving a quite awkward silence across the room.

Nora chuckled and took charge. "Anyway, thanks for coming and have a wonderful night! Stay safe everyone!" The crowd gave an encouraging applause and dispersed, either towards the counters or the exit, and Nora looked towards Jaune sympathetically. "Guess the drum machine wasn't a great idea, huh?"

Jaune looked up at Ren and Nora with a downcast expression. "I'm sorry you guys. I blew it."

Nora bounded towards Jaune and gave him a wide grin. "That's stupid, Jauney! That was just one screwup. Everybody screws up!" she beamed, and Ren patted Jaune's back encouragingly.

Jaune smiled. "Thanks you guys."

Nora gave him a hug. "Now let's go clean up and then get you those drinks we promised!"

* * *

Blake leaned against the bar counter and scrolled through her phone, in hopes of finding any clues as to where the Casey and the Red Rosies show might be held. Her faunus ears perked periodically as well, mulling amidst the dull roar of patrons for any tidbits. Beside her, she heard Yang slam the rest of her current mojito and promptly try to order another before Blake intervened.

"Nope, you've had your fill, give it a rest."

"Oh fine. I guess ten drinkssss's enough."

Blake glanced incredulously at the stack of glasses that Yang had managed to rack up, and looked back at the blonde. "Well, you're not wrong. You're paying this time, right?"

"Yup!" Yang reached for her wallet (it took a few tries) and pulled it out with a look of self-assurance on her face. Once she opened it, however, her face immediately fell.

"Issss not enough," she groaned.

Blake felt her face hit the bar counter in exasperation. "I'll cover you. Again."

"There hassa bessomethin' I can do."

"I got it, Yang."

"I could beat it outtassome poor fucker."

"No, Yang. You're not doing that."

"What iffff I flash the guy my tits?"

"B-wha? NO! Just… let me handle it. Okay?"

Yang put her wallet away in defeat. "I'm sorry. I really am."

"It's alright. At least you're only tipsy. Somehow. After ten whole drinks. Anyway, we still have to find Casey, so chin up, alright?"

Yang nodded happily.

As Blake paid the bill, she heard a gradually growing cheer from her left and turned to see The Juniperberries emerge from the back of the bar. The girl gave the crowd an exaggerated bow, the black haired boy smiled and waved, and the blonde nodded absentmindedly. They made their way to the bar counter and sat adjacent to Blake and Yang.

Yang leaned into Blake's comfort space. "Theresss the hot mess," she whispered, grinning mischievously. "Sitting right next to ya."

Blake faced Yang, smirking. "Hello, hot mess."

Yang was not amused. "Once again, not me." She pointed at the blonde boy. "Go talk to him while ya got the chance."

The dark-haired girl rolled her eyes. "I'm not interested." However, her adept faunus hearing picked up on the group's conversation with ease.

"Still won't drink, Ren?"

"I've never liked the taste. Plus, I'm driving."

"Ah well. Anyway, Ren and I'll go pack the equipment. You sure you wanna stay here?"

"Yeah, I just wanna enjoy my drink and try to get my head straight."

"Alrighty, then. Just hang out for a bit and then we'll go catch Casey." At this, Blake perked up.

"Cool. Don't make out too long. Am I gonna need to wipe down the floor of the van after you two finish up?"

"Oh, shut up."

As the girl and one called Ren walked out of the bar, Blake spun towards Yang in frenzy. "They're going to go after Casey!"

Yang's still animatedly cheerful face loomed in Blake's view. "Well, theresss yer excuse to go talk to the guy!"

"W-wha? No!" Blake waved her hands frantically, feeling the pangs of social anxiety as they crept up on her. "How about we just follow them to the show?"

Yang's eyes narrowed. "You can't be seriousss…"

"Yup. Sounds like a plan to me." As far as Blake was concerned, social interaction with complete strangers was about as fun as playing Russian roulette with yourself, and the public opinion be damned.

Yang shook her head. "You just never ever take the initiative." Bouncing out of her seat, she threw a very anxious Blake a wicked grin. "If you won't go talk to 'em, I will."

And before Blake could stop her, Yang drunkenly made her way to the open seat next to the blonde boy.

"Heeeeeyyy hot stuff." Yang threw a wink at the boy, who was very perceptibly caught off-guard by Yang's grand entrance. "You look a lil' lonely tonight. Ya wanna go have some fun?"

Blake smacked herself in the face so hard she saw stars.

The boy looked undeniably and utterly confused. "Uh… I, uh… I d-don't have any m-money to pay for your services. I-I'm sorry."

_Oh shit_.

In an absurdly swift instant, Yang's cheery demeanor was swapped with that of an infernally livid demon, and the boy swore he saw his half-full drink evaporate completely.

"HOW DARE YOU IN YOUR RIGHT FUCKING MIND THINK THAT FOR AN INSTANT I COULD EVEN REMOTELY BE A WHORE!?"

The boy yelped and nearly fell backwards off his barstool until Blake, with her cat-like reflexes, caught the boy by his shoulders. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Then immediately realized who she was holding on to.

The boy looked up in surprise at who had caught him, and Blake felt the heat rise to her face as she stared back. "U-um. Uh… I… um… I… hi."

"Hi." The blonde boy stared right back. "Thanks for, um, that."

"N-no problem." Blake promptly set the boy back in his seat and proceeded to glare at her belligerent drunk of a friend, trying to dispel the warmth in her cheeks. "Yang, what the fuck are you doing?"

"Huh? Oh right!" The blonde girl unceremoniously reversed back to her livelier self, and leaned in towards the boy, who visibly flinched. "Where are my manners? My name's Yang, and my really really really really really really really smokin' hot friend –" Blake facepalmed again "- is Blake! We couldn't help but overhear that you guys were goin' to the Casey and the Red Rosies show! What do ya say if two lovely ladies like us tag along?"

The boy looked back and forth uneasily between Yang and Blake, the former giving him a face-splitting grin and the latter looking away. "W-we actually don't know where they're playing," he admitted sheepishly. "We're trying to find the clues too."

Blake sighed dejectedly and almost crept off until Yang waved the boy off. "Details, details! We don't mind! The more the merrier, I say!"

"I-I-I guess I could ask Ren and Nora. I m-mean, I'm sure they wouldn't mind at all." The boy laughed nervously at Yang, who beamed right back. "I guess I'm a little rude, too. My name's Jaune."

Blake frowned. _Jaune?_ She wondered. _I've heard that name before, but where from?_ Lost in thought, Blake suddenly felt a chill run down her spine, followed by the sound of heels click-clacking closer and closer towards the bar counter, and she twisted around to see –

"Hey, Jaune," crooned Weiss with a sly smile. "It's been a while, babe."

* * *

**Hope that wasn't as stale of a chapter as I thought it was! Although please tell me if it was, I'm still pretty green at this fanfic stuff.**

**The original movie, at least in my mind, focused on some rather petty issues, which I guess is pretty normal for high schoolers anyway. The challenge here was keeping the weight of the situation and issues while making them more thought-out and productive towards the story and making sure I didn't hate the characters as much because of their pettiness. Speaking of which, I payed careful attention this time to make sure the characters were actually who they were from RWBY. Please feel free to point out any inconsistencies I may have missed.**

**Just in case anyone was wondering, the song from the previous chapter that Blake was listening to was "Dream Come True" by Jeff &amp; Casey Lee Williams. The song The Juniperberries are playing from this chapter is "Funny Farm" by Trocadero, featured in the latest season of RVB.**

**I'd still be welcome for any cover art submissions, if any of you wanna help me out with that.**

**Until next time!**


	3. Settle Down

**Hello again! In with another chapter of Blake &amp; Jaune's Infinite Playlist, and man, this one was a bitch to write. It just did not want to be written. So here is this train wreck of a chapter, and while it certainly still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, I hope you guys like it more than I do. PLEASE leave criticism; I'd love to hear it all.**

**Oh, and just so we're clear, I changed the chapter titles. I initially had this grand idea to have all the titles be questions, but that got stupid real fast. So they're all song titles now! Of course, in relevance to the chapter theme, because if it was just any old song that would be stupid, too. "Young Journey" from Ch 1 is by Moon Taxi (such a lovely song) and "Get Away" from Ch 2 was recently released by one of my all-time fav bands, CHVRCHES.**

**This chapter's song is "Settle Down" by The 1975, another of my favorites. Come to think of it, Kimbra has a song called "Settle Down", too... oh well. Go listen to them all.**

**Beta: Maxaro. Yes, dragons _are_ awesome... I'm actually not sure what you meant by that.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Settle Down**

* * *

"W-Weiss?" stammered Jaune. "W-what are you doing here?"

Weiss frowned. "I'm here to see your show, you dolt! You didn't think I was going to miss it for the world, did you?" she said sweetly.

_Too sweetly_, thought Blake, shivering as she felt a nauseating wave wash over her. _This was Weiss's Jaune? I can't believe I got nervous talking to Weiss's sloppy seconds- no, wait, I didn't get nervous, I was just caught off-guard. Off-guard. Right. Not nervous._ She looked back at Jaune, who looked like he was about to fall over again. _Poor guy. No wonder he's such a mess._

Jaune struggled to find words. "Well, uh, right. I'm glad." He shuffled in his seat. "Did you, uh… did you ever get my calls? I called you, like, four times-" (remember kids, it was five. Jaune's in denial) "- but you never responded."

Weiss smiled sheepishly and looked at the floor. "I did. I just thought it would be better if I could talk to you face-to-face."

_Bullshit_, thought Blake darkly. Meanwhile, the inebriated Yang had a look of utter confusion on her face, still trying to connect the dots of how Jaune and Weiss knew each other.

Weiss looked between Blake, and Yang, and addressed the elephant in the room. "So how do _you _guys know Jaune?"

"We just met," said Blake bluntly, and Yang nodded vigorously, trying not to fall behind in conversation.

"Oh," said Weiss flippantly. "Didn't make you out to be the 'meeting people' type."

Blake glowered in return, but before she could say anything she regretted, a friendly voice reached the group.

"There you are!" A charming, well-dressed man with blue hair emerged from the sea of people. "I've been looking all over for you, Weiss," He reached over to hug the white-haired girl.

"Not now, Neptune, I'm busy," she snapped, wriggling out of his grasp.

Neptune looked disheartened for a split instant, then immediately grinned at the rest of the group.

"Well, you haven't introduced me to any of your friends, Weiss. They seem like really cool people! I'm Neptune." He lazily extended a hand towards Jaune.

The blonde boy stared at the hand, but didn't make a move to take it.

"Uh…" Neptune glanced nervously at Weiss, who threw him a condescending glare.

Yang took this moment of uncertainty as an opportunity to reinsert herself into relevance. "Pleased to meet ya! My name is Yang!" she beamed, and shook Neptune's outstretched hand rather violently, effectively rattling the boy inside and out.

"You too…" murmured the poor boy in a daze.

Blake stepped away from the situation for a brief moment to gather her wits; with each additional person, she had felt increasingly unnerved, especially considering that one had completely made her lose her cool by just falling into her arms and one other she loathed completely. As her nerves gradually calmed, she spotted the remaining members of The Juniperberries, along with an unfamiliar lady with majestic red hair approaching them. The one called Nora stopped dead in her tracks, and her usually cheery demeanor drastically shifted to serious at the sight of Weiss.

"JAUNE!" The boy looked up to see a flash of ginger hair dashing up to the group. "Looks like you made some friends!" exclaimed Nora. She turned to glare suspiciously at the white-haired girl. "And then some."

Weiss hmphed smugly. "Good to see you too, Nora." As the dark-haired boy and the red-haired stranger met up with the rest of the group, Weiss added coolly, "And you Ren."

Ren hummed in response, the expression on his face mirroring Nora's.

Yang, in her infinite wisdom and timing, once again chimed in. "Well, hello! You guys must be friends with Jaune here!"

"Considering that we played together on stage a while ago, I'd say that's plausible," deadpanned Ren, whose attention still rested on the girl in white. His sarcasm, however, seemed to fly right over Yang's intoxicated head.

"How wonderful! My name's Yang and this is my really really-"

"I'm Blake."

"Dammit Blake, you messed up my line!"

Ren and Nora finally regarded the odd pair. "Well met," greeted Ren.

"Sorry, you guys might have come in at a bad time," said Nora apologetically. "Although I guess you can't be blamed. We didn't know that _she_ at was gonna be here." Nora gave a sideways scowl towards Weiss, who narrowed her eyes.

"Nora, please. Let's not do this here," pleaded Jaune weakly, and in the background, Weiss smirked complacently.

Nora gave a sigh. "Sorry Jaune. I lost my cool." She turned back to Blake, and offered a smile. "So, what were you guys and Jaune talking about?"

Blake looked at Yang, then back at Nora and took a deep breath. "We, uh, we just heard that you guys were heading towards the Casey show and, well, we don't really have any clue where they would be playing…"

"I told them to talk to you," added Jaune.

Nora peered thoughtfully at Blake before brightening considerably. "Neither do we, but we can find out together, if you'd like! The more the merrier!" she declared happily.

Blake smiled appreciatively, and Yang threw her fist in the air, proclaiming, "New friends on the search for the most mysterious band in the world? I predict the best night ever!"

Weiss turned to Jaune and touched his shoulder tenderly. "We're actually going to see Casey as well. Can we ride along?"

Jaune hesitated. "Uh… well, I guess I-"

"Sorry, we agreed to take Jauney out to have fun tonight," Nora intervened, regarding Weiss coolly. "A promise is a promise, and frankly we don't have any more room in the van for you. So why don't you go on with pretty boy over there?" She motioned towards the blue-haired boy, who looked hurt at the comment.

Weiss crossed her arms. "Fine," she replied shortly. "We'll see each other at the show anyway." Her hand lingered for a moment on Jaune's shoulder before it slid off ever so delicately. "Bye Jaune."

Jaune's eyes intently trailed the girl's slender form as she turned on her heel and strode away in a deliberate fashion. "Let's go, Neptune," she called.

Neptune looked between the group, then Weiss, then back again. "It was nice meeting all of you," he blurted, before running off towards the girl in white.

Blake let out a breath that she didn't even know she'd been holding in. Beside her, she heard dark mutterings.

"You know, I could've taken her in my car," scowled Jaune.

Blake stared at him. "Why on earth would you do that?"

Jaune shot her a glare that caught her by surprise. "What's it to you?"

His angry gaze made Blake extremely uncomfortable, and she quickly looked away without responding.

Nora took over. "Jauney, it's for the better, okay? She doesn't care about you. The girl's hurt you in the past, you don't need that shit in your life."

"Look, she came over and talked to me, okay? She cared enough to come to the show and talk to me. Maybe it's not much, but you had to come over here and break us apart. What gave you the right to do that, huh?" Jaune turned and slammed the rest of his drink.

Nora put her hand on his shoulder. "Jauney, I'm not trying to fight you. I'm just… I'm just saying that you should just take today for just yourself before you decide if you wanna try to… uh… get back with that bit- I mean, Weiss."

Jaune did not respond. All was restlessly quiet for a while as the white noise of the bar droned in the background.

Until Yang yawned. "So are we gonna find us some fuckin' Casey or what?" She stretched her arms then jumped out of her seat. "Let's get going! Time's a wastin'!"

Slowly, Jaune turned. "Sure. Blondie's got a point. Let's go."

"You're blonde too, dipshit," Yang grumbled, and Blake snickered.

Nora's somber expression turned to relief as she cheered. "YAAAAYYYYYY! We're gonna find us some Casey tonight!"

The rest nodded in silent agreement, and slowly but steadily the motley crew headed out.

* * *

As they reached the van, Ren unlocked the doors, and Blake and Yang graciously thanked him before climbing inside. Nora, however, paused abruptly by the door. "Oh, before I forget, you don't have to worry about playing that drum machine anymore. We found a drummer!" Nora motioned exuberantly towards the red-haired stranger. "This is Pyrrha!"

The girl waved politely. "Hello!" she smiled warmly. "I saw you guys play earlier and I loved your music! I just thought I would volunteer myself as a drummer if the drum machine didn't work out for you."

Jaune looked her straight in the eye, unimpressed. "Do you even play?"

"Rude," Blake murmured, not checking to see if the blonde boy heard her.

Luckily, Pyrrha took the backhanded question in stride. "I do, as a matter of fact! I played jazz in college, but I've dabbled in just about anything, really."

Jaune nodded. "Forgive me if I don't trust these guys' judgment calls," he replied, pointing at a pouting Nora and shrugging Ren. "They haven't given me much to work with."

Pyrrha giggled. "I understand."

Ren added, "We thought that if we took Pyrrha along with us tonight, we could really find out if she's a match for the band."

"Good to see you found room for her and not Weiss," scoffed Jaune. He suddenly shook his head. "Sorry, I shouldn't have. Let's just go. I'll take my own car."

Ren frowned. "You sure? The van's not small, you know."

"I'm sure." Jaune walked off in the opposite direction towards his car.

From inside the van, Yang called out, "You shouldn't let him go all by himself, y'know! He should have some company… like Blakey over here!" and slyly pushed the startled faunus girl back out of the van.

"W-what? N-n-no, he doesn't need to- I mean, I don't, uh- I can stay here!" Blake protested as tried to scramble back in the van with little success against Yang's unwavering resistance.

"Nonsense! I'm sure the both of you could enjoy some quality time together!" Yang proclaimed with a wide grin.

Nora seemed slightly confused, but Ren nodded. "It would be useful if we split in groups. Finding Casey could get a bit easier that way."

"That makes sense!" Nora was on board immediately.

Blake felt her stomach sink. "But… but I- I should take care of Yang!"

Nora beamed. "Don't worry about your friend. We'll take care of her, don't you worry!" She leaned in close. "Also, it would do Jauney some good to have company, and you seem like a nice person. I'm sorry if he kinda gave off a bad vibe, but I promise he's a great guy, and he could use friend."

Blake's eyes narrowed. "Well, then why don't you or Ren go?"

"Well, Ren's driving the van, so I should stay back to keep an eye on Yang as well as get our new drummer familiar with us!"

The redhead waved. "Hello again!"

Nora turned back to Blake. "Please? I swear, Jauney's not as insensitive as he lets on. He just needs a little TLC, that's all."

Blake looked pleadingly at Yang, then Ren, then Pyrrha, then looked back at Nora. She sighed deeply and shoved the sinking feeling back down her throat. "Fine. But this can only end badly…" she muttered. Turning back to Yang, she asked, "You sure you'll be okay?"

Yang grinned brightly and slumped in her seat. "I'm a big girl. Don't be so worried. You go have fun."

As the rest of passengers loaded the van, Ren turned to Blake. "Remember to call Yang or get Jaune to call if you find any signs of Casey."

Blake nodded faintly. "I will." Then, preparing herself for the worst, she walked reluctantly towards the Crown Victoria.

* * *

"Hey."

Jaune looked out from the driver's seat to see the girl with the bow in her hair walking up to the car.

"What are you doing here?"

The girl looked uneasy as her eyes darted and avoided Jaune's. "The others said we should separate into groups to look for Casey. It'll be a little easier that way."

Jaune shrugged indifferently. "Tell them-" He heard a hum of a familiar engine and looked up to see the van drifting out of his field of view. Nora waved emphatically at Blake and Jaune from the passenger window and soon the vehicle disappeared with the brief honking of Tchaikovsky.

Sighing, Jaune unlocked his doors. "Get in. Blake, right?"

"Yeah." The girl gave a brief smile and walked to the passenger side before entering.

An awkward silence washed over the car as Jaune pulled off the side of the curb and started driving. He reached over to play CD, which Blake attentively noticed had the words "The Closure Tapes, Pt 9" written carefully in sharpie. After a brief pause, the CD began to play a Casey and the Red Rosies song, and the atmosphere in the car became a little more bearable.

They drove around the city for a spell, neither quite willing to initiate conversation. Street lights washed over the car one after the other as the car moved deeper into the heart of Vale. The city was especially bustling tonight, and the ambiance of it all blurred past the Crown Victoria in waves of people, colors, and just a hint of a collective euphoria.

Blake drew her eyes away from the window and its kaleidoscope theater to observe the boy she'd been forced to ride with. He still seemed as distracted as ever, although Blake figured it was not by the bright lights or the search for Casey. His hands clutched tightly at the steering wheel, and the expression on his face was one of unrest.

The dark-haired girl fidgeted anxiously. She refused to be held captive by Jaune's brooding mood. Steeling her nerves to engage in social interaction, she desperately grasped at any small talk she could rack up.

"I… uh, I really like your music," she tried.

"Mmmm," hummed the boy in response.

_Dammit. He's not giving me much to work on._ Nevertheless, she pushed on.

"I meant like your taste in music. You've got a really great mixtape, I'm really digging this. N-not to say that I didn't like the music you played at the bar! That was pretty good too…" Blake bit her lip in frustration. _Why am I so nervous? Is he just that off-putting or am I just this bad at conversation?_

Jaune smirked ever so slightly. "Thank you. I feel like you're sugarcoating it a bit; I did flub on that stupid-ass drum toy."

Blake returned the smile, reveling in the possibility that the conversation might _not_ crash and burn. "No band should have that… _thing_… as a drummer. It's not a great image to project."

"You can say that again," chuckled Jaune. Another good sign.

_This isn't going so bad_, thought Blake, relief bubbling in her chest. "But seriously, I really do love this mixtape, especially that one Casey song. Casey and the Red Rosies has to be one of my favorite bands. Ever."

"They're one of my favorites, too. Believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to seeing them tonight."

"Me too, actually. _If _we get to see them."

"Yeah. I might have a few ideas on where they could be hiding some clues, though." A pause. "Which song's your favorite?" inquired Jaune.

"Oh… God." Blake thought for a moment, and replied, "I wanna say 'From Shadows'."

The boy's eyebrow lifted. "Really? That's one of their more obscure ones. But good choice." He pondered a moment. "Mine has to be 'Shine'. It's a great dancing song."

"You dance? Really?"

"A bit. Living with seven sisters does that to you."

"I've got to see this dancing one of these days. It _is_ a really good song, though."

Jaune gave her a sad smile. "It's funny. It's my favorite song, but it's got that first line, right? _'Baby, it's time to make up your miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind'_," he sang softly. "Seems really ironic now, since I can't seem to make up my mind about… well, recent things."

A momentary, mirthless quiet.

Blake, in sympathy, gave him a small smile. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Shoot."

"What do you see in Weiss?"

She saw the boy stiffen and almost panicked, wondering if she had said too much. Then, his shoulders slowly relaxed, and he heaved a great sigh.

"Can I ask how you know her?"

"I asked you first."

"Fine. I've been with her a while, and maybe she might seem cold and bitchy at first, but deep down, she's a really nice person. She helped get the band where we are now, she stuck with me through some really shitty times, and she even made me get my shit together when I felt like giving up. So, sorry if my idea of what kind of a person she is doesn't match up with yours, but it's the goddamn truth." Jaune's words were not without ire.

Blake wanted to point out how Weiss left him in such a miserable state, how she didn't answer his calls, he she had moved on easily as he had remained stuck in time. But she realized it wouldn't be tactful of her, and perhaps he wouldn't be willing to listen to her reasoning. Maybe not yet, anyway.

So instead, she nodded. "I wish that was the Weiss I knew, because she's never seemed like that for the time I knew her. We went to high school together, and somehow we managed to stick together past then even though I… well, I sort of hate her guts, especially since she's always been a bit discriminatory to my kind."

Jaune cocked his head. "Your kind?"

"Oh, right!" Blake unraveled her bow, and the uncovered cat ears twitched. "I'm a faunus." She then anxiously tied the bow back up, surprised by her own actions. _Did I just reveal to him my ears? Do I really trust Jaune that much?_

Jaune chuckled. "They're kinda cute. Why do you hide it?"

"Well…" Blake felt her face flush, and she looked towards her feet. _Cute!? Really?_ "Being a faunus isn't the greatest social status a person could have, considering the politics and whatnot. Quite a bit of people still remain very bigoted about the whole issue, and it's infuriating."

"I understand completely." His expression turned pained. "Weiss said bad things about the faunus? That… I can't even imagine her saying anything that shitty. Did I really have the wrong idea about her…? Even after all these years? That can't be right! It just… I don't wanna believe it…" The blonde boy slumped back in his seat.

"We're all a little wrong about things sometimes," said Blake reassuringly. _Like my first impression of you. _Then, more hesitantly, she asked, "But you're completely okay with my real identity? When people find out I'm hiding who I am, they usually get really agitated … among other things."

"Why wouldn't I be? That's stupid." Jaune honked the driver in front of him, who was on his phone. "Those people who give you shit for being you are morons."

Blake smiled. "Thanks. I appreciate that."

Jaune returned it. "No prob-"

The car suddenly braked as a very drunk couple – the man with bright orange hair topped with a bowler hat and the woman with amber eyes and a stunning red dress – stepped clumsily in front of the vehicle's intended path.

Jaune and Blake looked at each other in shock, before returning their attention to the man banging his fist on the hood of the Crown Victoria.

"What the hell, man?" exclaimed Jaune.

"Jesus, taxi, we almost missed ya there," jeered the man, and lethargically led the lady to the right side of the car.

"Not a taxi," Jaune retorted, which unfortunately fell on deaf ears.

"Yeah yeah, shut the fuck up." The man went to open the door before Jaune could react, and his lady friend slipped in to the backseat, followed by the man himself , obnoxiously slamming the door shut. "Junior's on 10th and Duquette, please."

"Not a fucking tax- oh for fuck's sake!" Jaune's rear view mirror gave him a front-row seat on the drunk couple as they began to make out like live fish on a chopping board.

Blake half-snickered, half-cringed, simultaneously amused at Jaune's fuming and repulsed by the couple's very loud and increasingly inappropriate tangle of limbs. "So, I guess we're going to 10th and Duquette, then?"

Jaune grumbled. "10th and Duquette." And with a lurch, the Crown Victoria set off once more.

* * *

**I'm teasing ships already. Hehe. Where's that iceberg when you need it?**

**This part of the movie when Nick and Norah are in the Yugo is one of my least favorite scenes in the whole thing (my stomach's not great, so you can guess what my absolute least favorite scene is). I rewrote things a bit so that the conversation wasn't, again, petty, and nor were the characters completely unreasonable, either. Whether that worked or not... I guess is up to you, the reader.**

**Oh, and I suppose that Roman and Cinder cameo should be acknowledged. Get a room, you two.**

**I'm so glad that this chapter is done. Now I can get to the meat and potatoes of the story... or better yet, my other project, Ten Little Hunters. It's already a blast writing that one, so go check out the riddle that I've already posted in my stories!**

**Until next time, you lovely, lovely people!**


	4. Sweater Weather

**Hey, it's me again! Here's the next installment of youalreadyknowwhatthisisbecausewhyelsewouldyoubehere. Anyway, I don't really have much commentary off the bat, so I'll keep the intro to a minimum. I feel like this chapter's a bit shorter than the last few, so sorry in advance.**

**It's also chocked full of Easter eggs. How many can you find?**

**The song for this chapter's title is "Sweater Weather" by The Neighbourhood.**

**Beta: Maxaro, as always. Had me a good chuckle over your editor's note.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Sweater Weather**

* * *

In a different part of the city, a nondescript brown van lazily coasted between cars and rowdy pedestrians as the flashy colors of the city lights awed the passengers inside. Ren manned the vehicle while Nora rode shotgun with her face leaned against the side window, taking in every sight and sound. Pyrrha did the same in the seat behind her, although she sat in a more proper manner and maintained a reserved sort of intrigue. Next to her, limbs awry across the seat, was a softly snoring Yang, who had passed out almost immediately after the transit began. The snoring was only drowned out by The Juniperberries demos playing over the van's stereo.

"I'm hungry," piped Nora.

Ren kept his eyes on the road. "Come to think of it, I am as well."

Nora grinned and turned to face Pyrrha. "Hey Pyr-Pyr, you got anywhere you wanna eat?"

"Oh, I'm fine with anything," answered Pyrrha graciously.

"That's a dangerous sentence," muttered Ren, but fortunately for him no one heard his comment.

Nora pondered for a moment. "Oh, there's a pancake house right down the street! We should eat there. After all, pancakes are always a good idea! Does that sound good, everybody?"

Two yesses from Ren and Pyrrha. Yang was still out for the count.

"Done." Ren parked the car in front of the small food joint with a slight check of the curb. "Let's get some to-go. We'll be able to get back to searching for Casey faster that way."

"I love it when you talk smart," beamed Nora, with a flirtatious hint in her voice. "Coming Pyr-Pyr?"

Pyrrha glanced to the sprawled blonde adjacent to her. "Will we be gone long?"

Ren shrugged. "It shouldn't be too long if we're ordering out."

Pyrrha hesitated for a second, then nodded. "Sure. Let's go!"

"Awesome!" With that, Nora bounced out the door and towards the restaurant, with Ren and Pyrrha following closely behind.

All was quiet in the van for a moment.

_Snoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooore –snort!_

Yang awoke with a start.

The first thing she noticed was that the world was moving.

Except it wasn't. The twenty-odd drinks she had sloshed down at the bar were still in full effect. Of course, the fact that it was _twenty-odd drinks _meant that Yang was not quite aware of this. So in her mind, the world was moving and that contrived explanation made complete sense - at least to Yang.

"Ugh," she groaned, and with some effort, Yang managed to open the door and dropped shakily onto the pavement beside the van. "Need… fresh air…"

The second thing she noticed was that no one was in the van.

"Hello?" called Yang, lethargically poking her head back in the van door. "Loudmouth? Shy-guy? Lady in red? Where is everybody?"

No answer.

"Huh…" Yang looked up the block and down the block, cursing the world for its incessant spinning as she turned.

"Where are you guys hiding…" she murmured playfully, and, slowly and absolutely _not_ steadily, she zig-zagged her way through crowds of people that weren't actually there. Those that _were_ there, however, gawked at the very drunk girl struggling to push past imaginary strangers and yelling at apparently nothing.

But neither did she notice nor care. "You can't hide from me. I'm the best at hide-and-seek. I'll search the whole damn city if I gotta!" roared Yang, her competitive streak settling in.

She wasn't kidding, either. Unfortunately.

* * *

"Does this happen a lot?"

"… Yup. Kind of the reason I keep a bottle of Mrs. Clean in the car."

"That _does _explain the Mrs.… wait, _Mrs._ _Clean_?"

"I, uh… it's a knock-off brand. Being a starving artist will do that to ya."

"Ah."

Forcing small talk seemed to be much easier for Blake and Jaune when the collective goal was to try to drown out the love-making sounds (if you could even call it that) emanating from the back of the Crown Victoria. Where silence used to be a cherished commodity, any clamor that could bleach their eardrums now reached peak demand.

"Soooooooo… uh, have you ever been to this club before? Juniors?" asked Jaune.

Blake shrugged. "Normally I don't. They're too loud. And there are waaaaaaay too many people; it's like if the people on subways never stopped moving. Or hit on you. That would be a nightmare." She sighed. "But I digress. I've been once. With Yang. Rather, she dragged me along."

"How long did it take you to just run the fuck outta there?"

"About five minutes and forty-five seconds. Yang beat up the bartender, the DJ, and some of the bartender's thugs. She also made a fair amount of damage."

"Yikes," Jaune winced. "That couldn't have been good on her wallet. Or her record."

"Her dad helped her out. He's close to the local law enforcement. But boy, do I remember the lecture he gave her." Blake smirked at the memory.

"So… now she doesn't punch though local property anymore?"

"No, just people these days."

Jaune shivered. He recalled almost being on the receiving end of that not too long ago.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind- oh God!" he cried as a masculine hand from the back grabbed onto Jaune's face. The grunts and moans from that general direction did not help the situation either.

Blake broke out into a giggle at the sight of an infuriated Jaune with a man's hand vigorously caressing his face. She was just glad that it wasn't happening to-

A foot kicked her in the face.

It took her by such surprise that for a good second, she just stared at the foot, which was currently thrashing against her headrest. Resigned, Blake warily leaned her head against the car window, still staring begrudgingly at the foot. "This isn't funny anymore," she grumbled.

Thankfully, they didn't have to suffer much longer.

"And we're here!" announced Jaune irately, slowing the car to a stop. "Junior's on 10th and Duquette."

A short commotion came from the back seat, complete with the sounds of grunts and zippers. The right side door finally opened and the lady in red stumbled out onto the sidewalk, swaying so erratically that if a stray breeze were to glide by, it would surely knock her over.

The other drunken half of the pair poked a head to the front. "How much?" the man slurred.

Without missing a beat, Jaune replied, "$8.50."

The man searched his pockets and came up with a five dollar bill. "This is all I got."

Jaune sighed. "Sure. Just get the fuck out."

"Yeah yeah, take it easy, blondie," chuckled the man as he slapped the five on Jaune's chest. "I'll give ya a good rating on Uber." With that, he slammed the car door and bumbled after the lady into the club.

Blake watched the couple as they disappeared amongst the cluster of partygoers. "You know, he probably had more money on him, considering that they're at a club, of all places."

"I know," muttered Jaune tiredly. "I didn't care anymore. I just wanted them out. I don't even know if that asshole knows the difference between Uber and actual taxis." He let out a small chuckle. "I'm sorry you had to sit through all that."

Blake returned the laugh. "Me too."

They cherished the peacefulness that befell them for a moment.

The moment became awkward again soon enough.

Blake bit her lip. "I, uh… I'm gonna go use the club restroom." She fumbled slightly on the door handle before stepping out into the crisp, night air.

"Uh, yeah!" Jaune started to reach for the bottle of disinfectant. "You go ahead. I'm gonna clean up the car real quick. You sure you'll be able to get in?"

"I'll manage. I'm friends with the world's biggest party girl, anyhow." Blake smiled. "See you in a bit," she said, and gently closed the door behind her.

As she walked away from the car, the smile lingered on her face a moment longer, and the warm, fuzzy feeling in her chest began to subside.

* * *

"They sure took their sweet time with those pancakes," grumbled Nora.

"You _did_ order about fifteen of them _plus_ sides," pointed out Ren.

Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha had finally emerged from the pancake joint after a good thirty minutes. All three had their hands full of enough to-go boxes to supply a thanksgiving feast.

"Hey, better too many than not enough, amirite?" chirped Nora.

"I'd bet Blake and Jaune will be hungry when we meet up with them, ordering this much food isn't a terrible idea," added Pyrrha with a polite smile.

Ren snorted. "You haven't seen Nora eat."

"He's got a point," said Nora, skipping towards the van happily.

Ren set his stack of boxes down to unlock the van. As he opened the side door, the three of them noticed something very, _very _wrong.

"Uh-oh," murmured Nora. "That's not supposed to happen… right?"

* * *

Blake sighed as she finished taking care of business from inside the tiny stall. Her mind was racing as she retraced the night's events thus far. They still had yet to find any sign of Casey and the Red Rosies, and yet she had to admit that she was enjoying herself. For once, it wasn't Blake who was taking care of a wasted Yang, and being in Jaune's company had turned out far more pleasant than she had previously anticipated. The usual anxiety she felt in the presence of strangers was strangely quite this evening, and she'd been talking with the blonde much more than she usually did with anyone other than Yang, to the point that her mouth was parched. She'd been glad that the boy had been willing to talk to her, and even more so that she wasn't running out of things to say.

She shook head. _Why am I smiling? _she wondered to herself. _Stop smiling, Blake, you look like a goddamn idiot. Besides, he's just talking to you because you're talking to him. You're the one running your mouth. He's still hung up on Weiss, of all people. Don't be weird about it._

_Although… _She wrestled with those thoughts for a moment, then exhaled as she leaned against the stall door and closed her eyes. _I guess he wouldn't keep talking to me if he wasn't interested. Wait, interested? Maybe I'm taking this too far… I mean, I'm not looking for anyone right now… am I? Dammit, I'm overthinking things… I just need to stop for a minute. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Okay. Let's just take this one step at a time._

Blake opened her eyes. She was still in the stall.

She mentally slapped herself. _Why would I be anywhere else?_

Her eyes wandered about the walls of the stall and its various pieces of amateur graffiti. Each side had its fair share of phone numbers and names. There was a single heart scratched into the right wall with the words _"Coco &amp; Velvet 4eva"_ inscribed inside. Someone else had made an intricate sketch of the White Fang symbol in silver sharpie, to which Blake scowled at. Another _"Blank wuz here"_, another phone number, a disturbingly detailed phallus (_Could be Yang_, mused Blake), some rose petals along the side…

_Wait… rose petals?_

Instantly, Blake became alert.

She leaned closer towards the petal markings. They seemed to be leading up the stall wall.

Making sure her footing was solid, she carefully stepped on top of the toilet seat and followed the trail of rose petals, which seemed to circumnavigate the whole stall before encircling around a small cluster of text.

Blake squinted at the tiny words and mouthed each one as she read them:

_The White Whale - 12:00 Midnight - 1429 Halcyon Ave._

She read it again. Then for a third time.

"Jackpot," she whispered, and burst out of the stall.

* * *

Jaune's face blanched.

"What do you mean, you lost the girl?" he uttered in disbelief.

Jaune struggled to put on a jacket to combat the increasingly frigid weather as he sat on the hood of his parked car, and could audibly hear Nora gulp from his phone, which he held between his ear and his shoulder.

"_Well, uh…"_ Nora voice emitted from the phone. _"We went in this restaurant to get some pancakes, and when we came back, she was gone."_

Jaune groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You didn't think to leave even just _one other person_ in the van? There are three of you, for fuck's sake."

"_Yeah…"_ Nora mumbled reluctantly. _"Pyrrha's beating herself up pretty bad about it. She wanted to stay back, but we encouraged her to come with us."_

"Well, sure, tell her it's not her fault, but that's totally on you and Ren," snapped Jaune. "As per usual."

There was a small pause from the other end, and Jaune wondered if he had been too harsh. Before he could apologize, Nora responded. _"Jaune… I'm sorry. We fucked up. Bad. I… I'm so sorry."_

Jaune sighed. "It's alright. Everybody screws up. Right, Nora?"

"… _Right. Thanks, Jaune."_

Jaune allowed himself a small smile, despite the circumstances. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Blake rushing out of the club towards him, excitement etched across her face. _Damn,_ thought Jaune. _Blake is not gonna be happy about this._

"Don't worry, Nora. Just get over here as quick as you can. We're parked by Junior's, that club right by the really good sushi place."

"_Oh, I know where that is! Okay, we'll be there in a few!"_

"Alright. Bye." Jaune hung up and turned to Blake, who was standing restlessly by him while she waited.

"I did not realize how cold it had gotten out here," the faunus girl remarked, shivering slightly. "What was that about a sushi place?"

Jaune took a deep breathe. "Something… came up."

"Oh. What happened?"

"They lost Yang."

Jaune watched sadly as Blake's excitement immediately turned to alarm. "_Oh._ That's not good."

"Yeah. They're gonna be here in a few, then we can go look for her." Jaune shifted uncomfortably. "Do you think you can call her?"

"Yes. Hold on a sec." Blake pulled out her phone and dialed Yang's number, but after a few rings, the call went to voice mail.

"_Heya, this is Yang! But if you're calling, you probably already knew that! Or maybe you didn't. That's okay! Just leave a message, and we'll figure it out together. It'll be fun, I promise. Talk to ya soon! Bye!"_

"Goddammit Yang, you… you wet turd of a friend! Pick up your phone!" Blake growled angrily, and hung up.

"Shit shit shit shit!" yelled Blake as she turned to kick the side of the pavement.

"Yikes," said Jaune, flinching. "You okay over there?"

Blake turned to him indignantly. "Do I _look_ okay to you?"

"N-no. I suppose not."

Blake glared at him for a moment, then sighed deeply. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. It's just that I'm worried that she's going to get in some really shitty situations and it's gonna be all her fault. I swear I'm gonna kill her."

"Her fault?" Jaune blinked. "We're not about to have _that_ talk, are we?"

"Huh?" Blake asked confusedly before her eyes widened. "No, not like that! Let me explain: I'm not particularly worried about her. I'm worried about whatever poor bastard decides to flirt with her."

"Oh. Yeah, that would make sense."

"Yup." Blake sat next to Jaune on the hood of the Crown Victoria. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up burning the whole city down by accident."

"Hah, if it were closer to New Years, that might actually be appropriate."

The two shared a laugh, their breath visible in the cold, crisp night air. Jaune noticed the dark-haired girl still shivering against him. "Here," he grunted, taking off his jacket and wrapping it around Blake's shoulders. "That better?"

Blake looked surprised at the kind gesture. "T-thanks," she murmured, the color rising in her face as she looked at Jaune. "What about you? Aren't you cold?"

"I'll be fine," he replied, smiling. The two held each other's gazes for a moment.

"JUST KISS ALREADY!"

The random holler from across the street caused both Blake and Jaune to jump.

Preemptively, Jaune called out in response, "We're just friends!"

"Yeah… just friends," he heard Blake mumble beside him. Turning to check on her, Jaune could have sworn he saw her face fall.

_Huh. I wonder what that was about, _mused Jaune, but before he could give it a second thought, a very familiar (and at this point, exceedingly annoying) rendition of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" rang out through the night.

Jaune and Blake looked up to see the band's van pull up next to them and screech to a halt. The passenger window rolled down and Nora poked out her head with a to-go box in her hands.

"Pancakes?"

* * *

**Another chapter in the books. Oh hey, a pun.**

**I find myself more fond of writing Blake then I am of Jaune, most probably because I wrote Blake as a socially anxious person as well as an introvert, which I relate to very well, because I am both of those. Just to clarify, the two go hand in hand but are not quite the same thing.**

**Remember to keep your eye out on Tuesday for the premiere chapter of Ten Little Hunters, complete with prize system and all! That aspect will be explained further at the end of the first chapter, so get hyped!**

**Until next time, you lovely lovely people!**


	5. Landfill

**Another chapter for your enjoyment this fine Monday morning! I'm trying to type an intro as fast as I can because my next class starts in about five minutes. I'm a bit screwed, but eh.**

**Song is "Landfill" by Daughter. I suggest listening to this song once Blake's inner monologue begins. It'll definitely set the mood.**

**Beta: Maxaro. Don't knock it til you try it! ****Also, the movie's not that great.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Landfill**

* * *

For the most part, the subway station was fairly empty, save for a few shady characters and those unfortunate enough to not have any friends or enough money for a taxi. It was almost midnight on a Saturday, after all, and typically that meant most people were either comfortably at home with their loved ones or partying their asses off. Of course, with enough people partying as hard as they did, it wasn't uncommon for some of those unruly people to get completely and utterly lost, wander around in circles among the same few blocks, sit down among homeless people for a moment to question life and the existence of a god, accidentally steal food from a vendor, get into a yelling match about the legitimacy of stealing hot dogs, punch the food cart into oblivion. threaten the vendor's manhood and subsequently escaping the authorities because of the ruckus they were creating before finally ending up shambling through one of these otherwise empty subway stations, still completely and utterly lost and perhaps a little bit drunk.

Take Yang, for example.

At the very least, she had finished the hot dog, and that was about as good as that whole situation was going to get.

Somehow, she had made it down those damn stairs (those damn, unmoving, completely unremarkable stairs) before making it onto the platform below. A subway sat on one side of the platform, and without a second thought Yang walked through the open door of one of its cars. It had one singular passenger – a blonde faunus boy with a long monkey tail. If he had heard her walking up to the subway car, he made no sign of acknowledgment. Instead, his attention was focused solely on the peanut butter and banana sandwich that he was chowing heartily on.

Yang grinned and strutted (well, it was more like a cross between a strut and a lurch) towards the occupied bench.

When she got close enough, the faunus looked up indifferently before scooting to the side of the bench to make room for Yang, who, regardless of the kind gesture, sat as close to the boy as she possibly could and occupied little of the space that he had provided for her, much to the boy's apparent discomfort.

"Hey there!" said Yang loudly, despite the fact that there was no one else around and that she was inches away from the boy's face.

He blinked. "Uh… hi?"

"I'm looking for some friends. Have you seen two girls and a guy?"

The faunus's eyes darted for any possible escape routes, but his heart sank as the car door slid shut.

As the subway shuddered into motion, he attempted to lean away from the overbearing girl. "N-no. Only thing I've seen all night is this sandwich," he muttered, and continued eating.

"Okaaaaaaay." Yang nodded thoughtfully, then asked, "How about two girls and a guy who looks like he could be a girl?"

"Umm… why would that make a difference? I told you, I haven't seen anyone. Except for this delicious sandwich. Which I'm going to finish. Hopefully." The faunus tried to hunch over and continue his eating in peace.

The movement was futile as Yang unwittingly pushed closer. "Well, the guy didn't really look _too_ much like a girl – he just wears his hair in a ponytail and he's got this pink streak in it – or was it purple?"

The boy sighed and swallowed the wad of food in his mouth. "Look, I don't think you heard me. I haven't really seen _anyone_. The only person who's come down since I got here is you. So, I'm sorry, but noooo, I haven't seen them."

Alas, the boy's words fell on deaf ears as Yang prattled on. "And there was a girl with red hair who was really polite – almost sickening polite, actually – and then there was that girl, Nora, who seemed like she snorted blow…" Yang turned her back towards the boy and leaned against him, to his irritation.

"Don't you have a phone or something?" grumbled the faunus. "Have you thought about using that? You can't be drunk enough – and I'm assuming you're drunk and not a ditz – to not be able to use your phone. Right?"

As if on cue, a phone rang.

"Hah. Talk of the devil." Yang winked at the boy. "Are you a magician? Because I find magic pretty… sexy."

"L-listen," stammered the blonde boy. "I bet you're a really nice person, not to mention really hot, actually, and normally I suppose I wouldn't mind talking to someone with your gorgeous… uh… talents, but why don't you focus on answering your phone? It could be one of those friends you're looking for."

Yang hummed. "I'll keep that in mind, magician boy." She pulled out her still ringing phone. "Blake? I wonder what she wants?" she mused before answering.

"_YANG, YOU ABSOLUTE DRUNK IDIOT!"_

Yang and the faunus flinched at the livid voice screeching from the phone.

"Geez, kitty-cat, what's got your tail in a knot?" mumbled Yang.

"I resent that," muttered the faunus.

"_I've called your phone FIVE FUCKING TIMES and now you think you can be all cheeky with me!? Your drunk ass has given us more grief than I could ever care to have in my life!"_

"Just the one or all nine?"

"… _I am going to murder you."_

"Oh, you love me."

"_Yang."_ The voice on the other end of the conversation grew increasingly impatient. _"Just tell me where the fuck you are."_

"Right! Where I am, where I am, where I am… where am I?"

Blake's very audible groan emitted from Yang's phone.

"Let's see here… I'm on a subway, for one…"

"_YOU'RE ON A SUBWAY!? WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU ON A SUBWAY!?"_

"Well, I was just trying to find you guys! I _did _have some help from my new friend… uh… what's your name?" Yang leaned over the faunus boy, providing him with a million-dollar view of her ample bosom.

The boy's eye flickered down, then back up hastily. He gulped in an attempt to wet his parched throat. "Sun."

"_Sigh… you just made friends with some random stranger on a subway train?"_

"That's about the gist of it!" Yang chirped happily.

Sun rolled his eyes. "Not in the slightest."

"_Okay. I'm not even going to ask for details. You STILL haven't answered me on WHERE THE FUCK YOU'RE GOING!"_

"Call me crazy but that's a different question... I think... where _are_ we going?"

Sun sighed. "We're heading to the North Vale Station. I'm supposed to meet up with some friends at this club where Casey and the Red Rosies are supposed to be playing."

Silence fell over the subway car.

"_You're going to see Casey?"_

"Did I stutter?" muttered Sun peevishly.

Blake's voice grew eager in cadence. _"… Okay. That's good, that's very good! Yang, stay with this guy. We'll meet up with you fairly soon, okay? Try not to do anything… stupider than you've already managed to do. Please."_

"I can't make any promises, kitty-cat."

"_YANG."_

Yang sulked. "Fiiiiiiiiine…"

"_Oh, and Sun, was it? I'd appreciate you hanging on to her just a bit longer, if you don't mind."_

Blake's voice suddenly became sinister. _"Also, if I find out that you've taken advantage of her in her drunkenness and somehow not gotten every bone in your body shattered… I will cut you balls off and feed them to you. Are we clear?"_

Sun winced. "Crystal."

"_Good. Oh, and thanks." CLICK._

Yang grinned happily at the faunus boy. "Looks like you're stuck with me for a while!" She leant on him seductively, with his shoulder fitting perfectly in her cleavage. "How much do you think we can get done between here and North Vale Station?" she crooned.

Sun blanched. "No. Nonononono. I actually want to live a little longer, dammit."

* * *

"That idiot…"

Blake sighed in part relief and part annoyance as she hung up her phone. Facing her, as they now sat on opposite sides of the back of the Juniperberries' van, was Jaune, who eyed her with some concern.

"Well?" he inquired.

Lifting her gaze from the floor, Blake responded. "Well, we know where she's going, so that's a good thing. I think."

Jaune's eyes narrowed. "Uh, 'I think?'"

Blake growled at him in annoyance. "Listen, you, I don't need you to psychoanalyze every little word that comes out of my mouth, okay? I've got enough to worry about without you going all Freudian on me."

Jaune seemed taken aback. Seeing the look in his eyes, Blake almost apologized for being harsh to him, but before she could speak, Jaune responded.

"Okay, take it easy. I would've just been more comfortable with our wild goose chase if my source knew what she was doing," he retorted spitefully.

Blake stiffened. "This coming from the guy who can't decide if he's over his whore of a girlfriend? Oh, that's rich."

That particular statement incensed Jaune.

"Who the fuck asked you? Nobody asked you shit, and I've had enough of getting shoved into other people's troubles for one night. Go find your friend by yourself."

"Oh, I will! I don't need you, asshole!"

"Hey, you two." The pair angrily turned to the front, where Nora looked amusedly upon them. "While I hate to break up the arguing married couple here, we need a location, y'know."

"The White Whale," answered Blake shortly.

Nora's face scrunched up. "The White… Whale… I think I know where that is…"

Pyrrha turned from her own seat to face the brooding pair in the back. "Are… you guys okay?" she asked nervously.

Blake remained silent. Their little quarrel had brought her social anxiety to an all-time high for that night, and she wanted nothing more than to be gone.

Jaune, however, had other ideas. "I'm just as bewildered as you. I get dragged along to, quote unquote, "have fun" and here I am getting yelled at like I did something wrong. Figures that when all I wanted was some peace and quiet life would stick me with someone who loves drama."

"Loves drama!?" Blake straightened up and glared at the blonde. "How dare you! I'm trying to find my best friend who I've trusted in the hands of some random-ass guy called Sun, she probably has no idea what's going on at all, I'm worrying to _death_ about her, and you're calling me someone who loves drama? How dare you! How fucking dare you!"

"Well, I don't know what I did that made you so fucking mad at me!"

Blake scoffed. "M-mad? Why the hell would I be mad!?"

"YOU TELL ME!"

The van suddenly screeched to a halt. Blake and Jaune, who weren't particularly restrained, were sent flying into the back of the seats in front of them. Pyrrha and Nora also appeared rattled by the sudden deceleration.

The dazed pair on the floor of the van clumsily climbed back up to a sitting position and glanced confusedly towards the front, wondering what had triggered the sudden stop.

"Sorry," replied Ren from the driver's seat, his tone completely unapologetic. "I just really wanted you two to shut up."

As the van began to move again, both Blake and Jaune, mentally slapped by Ren's response, stared uncertainly at each other – then with a stroke of realization immediately averted their eyes.

Silence befell the two for what seemed like the hundredth time that night.

And in that silence, Blake's thoughts ran amok.

_Mad?_ She wondered. _Yes, of course I'm mad at him. Mad at him and his big, dumb, idiot face. Mad at him for saying that I love drama. How dare he? I'm the farthest fucking thing from a drama queen at all! All I'm trying to do is find my friend, and here he is running his mouth about how he was dragged along and forced to be stuck with me, oh, poor baby! Goddamn, I _am _mad at him. I thought we could actually be friends, but fuck, was I ever so wrong. Why? Why is he so eager to throw me away for someone who doesn't care about him at all? Why is his stupid head so obsessed with Weiss when I could be the person who… whoa there, Blake, what are you doing? Stop thinking like that. You're just friends with the guy, he's nothing spectacular. Wait, no, fuck him. You're not friends at all, why do you care? You're just… not…_

Blake sighed tiredly. Her conviction just didn't seem to be holding up.

She sneaked a peek at the boy that faced her. His gaze was drawn to the floor, and he still seemed pissed, but his facial expression seemed to tell Blake that he might be wrestling with some other feelings.

_What I'd give to know what he's thinking._

Up near the front of the van, Nora whispered, "Psst. Hey Pyrrha."

The redhead became attentive and leaned forward in her seat. "Yes, Nora?" she whispered back.

"See that jacket Blake's wearing?"

Pyrrha turned slightly to look while avoiding the attention of the fuming boy and the distracted girl. "Yes?"

"That's Jaune's jacket."

"Oh."

"Not only that, but they argue like they need a marriage counselor. How much do you think we missed while they were out?"

To this, Pyrrha could only shrug in response.

* * *

"Are you sure that's where Casey's gonna be playing?"

"Yes. Of course I'm sure. What kind of stupid question is that."

A different car drove in and out of the city traffic, consisting of a blue-haired gentleman driver and his white-haired passenger and navigator.

"Okay," murmured Neptune. "I'm just saying, all the clues point to The White Whale as the venue."

Weiss scoffed. "Only a fool would fall for that. Anyone who's done their research would know that Casey often uses the bait-and-switch technique."

"Alright, alright," Neptune waved his free hand in defeat. "I trust you on this."

"Good."

Weiss remained poised as she read the directions off of her phone. It was all too easy – the band's habits, although seemingly deceptive to most casual fans, contained very simple patterns under closer scrutiny. It was so easy, a monkey could figure it out – a monkey with a lobotomy.

With most of the deciphering out of the way, Weiss glanced around the vehicle to examine their current location...

...and spotted a very familiar looking van.

She peered closely as the van crossed in front of them and made a turn. Through the windows, she make out the shapes of Nora, Ren, and that redheaded girl.

But she also recognized two other outlines nearer to the back of the van. One was that of a boy messy blonde hair and one was of a girl with a bow.

Weiss's eyes trailed the van for a moment.

"Change of plans, Neptune. We're following that van."

Neptune did a double-take. "What? Why?"

"Because I said so." Whatever complaints Neptune had were drowned out as Weiss's attention focused on the occupants of the van before them.

"They're up to something."

* * *

**Oh, all the angst!**

**Blake's trying to deny everything she's feeling at this point, and Jaune's still beating himself up over Weiss. What's new?**

**Okay, but seriously, class starts in, like, two minutes. I gotta go.**

**Until next time!**


	6. Me and All My Friends

**Hello again friends.**

**I'd like to apologize if I'm not as enthusiastic as usual. The last time I posted a chapter, someone died. It still haunts me a bit, really. But the show must go on, as they say.**

**This chapter was also a bit more of a chore to write than usual. It's a bit filler, to be honest, but it's important to the story nonetheless. Transitions, although sometimes overlooked, can make or break a story.**

**The song title is "Me and All My Friends" by Walk the Moon. It's definitely a song that I've been frequently jamming out to in my car. Their new album is pretty good, too.**

**Beta: Maxaro. Neptune shall now be referenced to as "The Turd."**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Me and All My Friends**

* * *

"_Arriving at destination: North Vale Station."_

The door of the subway car slid open in a most lethargic fashion. As expected, there was no one at this particular station, but if there was, they would have witnessed the grand sight of a very annoyed and grumbling Sun attempting to keep a very passed out Yang from falling flat on her face onto the subway floor.

He had initially tried to prop her up against the side of the subway car, but every time he would manage to balance her for a few seconds, she would come sliding back down and land in the crook of Sun's neck. He had since given up, as apparent by the growing patch of drool on Sun's shirt.

"Oh, thank God," he muttered as the car door opened up. "C'mon, Yang, we're going." He nudged the sleeping girl.

No response.

"Earth to Yang? Yo, wake up already, dammit, we're here."

_ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ._

"Oh, fuck's sake…" He lifted the girl bridal style and carried her out of the subway, careful as not to bang her head on the door. "At the very least, that Blake girl isn't going to cut my nuts off yet."

He stopped a moment and looked back into the subway car. Somewhere along the way, his sandwich had fallen victim to Yang's flailing and now lay pathetically on the floor.

Sun sighed gloomily, and started walk. "It was a good sandwich, too."

* * *

"Yep. This ain't it."

"That bit of information would have been useful about ten minutes ago, Nora."

"I swear, Ren, I thought this was where it was!"

"So explain the gas station."

"… Maybe it's a disguise?"

The building that the van had pulled up to was, indeed, a gas station. Nora's navigating was not quite as effective she had anticipated.

"Oh well," sighed Ren. "We're a little low on gas, anyhow."

Nora grinned. "Aw yeah! I'm a psychic!"

As Ren went to go fill up the gas, Nora and Pyrrha went inside the convenience store to raid, leaving Blake and Jaune alone in the van. Blake shifted nervously for a moment, then spoke up. "Hey Jaune?"

The boy looked awfully distracted and did not respond.

"Jaune?"

"Huh?" He seemed to jump at the sound of Blake's voice. "Sorry… I, uh, I was thinking about… stuff."

Although curious, Blake did not prod him. "I… I just wanted to apologize for lashing out at you earlier. You totally didn't deserve me going off on you like that."

Jaune offered her a faint smile. "It's alright. I said some pretty nasty shit, too. I should be the one apologizing."

"No, you're good. You did nothing wrong."

"Nah, I totally did. You were stressing out pretty bad, and I got all butthurt about it."

"Trust me, if anyone was butthurt, it was me."

"I was the one said you loved drama."

"… Okay. That was pretty out of line, I'll give you that. But seriously it was my fault."

The van doors suddenly slid open. "No _you_ hang up! No _you_ hang up!"

Blake and Jaune started, and looked up to see Nora and Pyrrha reentering the vehicle, with Nora teasing the pair. "Jesus, you two sound like a broken record player."

They both shared a knowing look and chuckled awkwardly.

Within another minute or so, Ren finished fueling the van and sat back in the driver's seat. "Gas is expensive these days," he muttered. "So, who can actually get us where we need to go?"

"Nora, don't you have Remnant Maps on your phone?" interjected Jaune.

"Uh… yeah…" Nora trailed off.

Ren smirked at her. "And you didn't think to use it?"

"Yeah I did!" retorted Nora.

"Since when?"

"Since… now. Hush, you."

Blake stifled a snicker. "Are they always like this?" she asked Jaune.

"Yup. I've put up with these two for a good eight years of my life," he replied with a smirk.

Blake grinned. "I might know how that feels like. I've had Yang to put up with for about just as long."

"Oof. I think you might have the shorter end of the stick."

Blake cringed. "Although I'm inclined to agree with you, I hate phrases like that."

Jaune gave an unsure laugh. "Why's that?"

"Listen to it. 'Shorter end of the stick.' It's a stick, Jaune, how can any one side of the same stick be longer than the other?"

Jaune though about for a second. "Huh… I never thought of it like that before…" He made the hand motion for "mind blown."

Blake laughed and shook her head.

"Got it!" yelled Nora from the front. "We have our destination!"

"I'm sure we do," snarked Ren.

Nora pouted. "You're not helping."

"Well you can drive the damn car yourself, then."

"Oh I will, Ren, and at least I won't run into a bunch of trash bins while I'm doing it!"

"Hey guys, I don't want to be the one to keep Kato and the Green Hornet from arguing," chimed Pyrrha meekly, who earned a guffaw from Jaune, "but it's almost midnight. The Casey show should be starting soon."

Ren frowned. "That's a bit racist."

"Well, she didn't necessarily say you were Kato," added Nora. "I'll be Kato."

"No way. You'd make a terrible Kato."

"W-wha? Why?"

"Because you're the talkative one. I'm the one who's actually useful."

Nora grumbled. "Some boyfriend you are. So are you Kato or nah?"

"See, but that's totally raci- what are you three laughing at?" Ren turned towards the back, where Pyrrha, Blake, and Jaune were busy trying (and failing) to keep from bursting into laughter.

"Jesus, dude," groaned Jaune, who was having the hardest time keeping a straight face out of the three. "You are Kato, you're not Kato, you wanna be Kato, you don't wanna be Kato – make up your mind, man!"

Ren narrowed his eyes irritably at him. Then he sighed. "Fine. I'm Kato. Now can we go?"

"For fuck's sake, dude, yes! Drive the damn car, Kato!" yelled Jaune in exasperation, and the van was sent into another fit of stifled snickering.

"I hate all of you," Ren growled.

* * *

As the van finally pulled out of the gas station and made its way towards their destination, Weiss and Neptune continued to trail closely behind it. The noises of the relentlessly excited city surrounding the car greatly contrasted the rather tense silence in the inside of the car. Neptune occasionally glanced at the girl beside him, who seemed very concentrated on the vehicle in front of them.

After another five minutes of deafening silence, Neptune steeled himself and hesitantly began to speak. "Hey, Weiss?"

"What?" she replied shortly, her expression distant.

Neptune took a deep breath, the pressed forward. "This… this Jaune guy. He mean a lot to you?"

"Huh?" Neptune's question seemed to catch Weiss off guard. "N-no. Not at all. Ha. Why would you say that?"

He frowned at her. Weiss never got this flustered over most things. He knew something was up.

"Don't lie to me, Weiss. I know you're hiding something. Let's ignore the fact that you were all touchy-feely with him at the bar. You don't have to lie to me, okay?"

Weiss remained silent, but her expression had suddenly grown anxious.

Sighing, Neptune continued. "Look. I like doing nice things for you. I like hanging out with you. I guess I really like _you_, even if you're not the most considerate person ever sometimes. But even if it means talking about people who mean more to you than me… I still want to help you out. So please, tell me what's going on."

Weiss seemed to shrink in her seat. The regality that usually held her together slunk away noticeably in that night. "You're a lot more perceptive than I take you for, you know that?"

Neptune smiled at her faintly. "I'm not just some cool guy. I mean, I _am_ a pretty cool guy, I'd like to think. But I digress. I notice things here and there."

The white-haired girl simply nodded, looking at her feet. "I… well, Jaune and I used to be… close. And then… I guess I got mad at something really stupid. I suppose I was just really needy and he was so dedicated to his band. So… I broke… I mean, we stopped talking."

"You mean you broke up with him."

"… Yes. I broke up with him."

"And now you feel guilty about it?"

Weiss hesitated, then nodded. "Yes," she replied softly, her voice wavering.

"And so now… you want to get back together with him?"

"No!" Weiss cried out rather abruptly, even surprising Neptune. "I mean… that is to say… you're here after all…"

"Hey," Neptune took a moment to gather his thoughts. "I… understand if you want to get back with him. I understand if I'm not that important to you-"

"Don't say that!" hissed Weiss. "You… you do mean something to me. You've been very kind to me, after all. It's just that after all this time, he randomly shows up out of the blue," Her expression turned brooding. "Not to mention… he's hanging out with that stupid faunus girl…"

"Take it easy," Neptune cautioned sternly. "What's with the racism?"

Weiss squinted at him. "What racism? That's just who she is!"

"You say it like it's a disease."

"Hmph. You think _that's_ bad, you should try growing up where I did. Aristocracy, as dainty as it is, tends to frown upon those of lower status."

"Ah," murmured Neptune. _That explains that._ "You jealous?"

"Of Blake? I don't think so. She hates people, anyway. Why would she care?" Weiss sounded incredulous, but the boy picked up on her unsureness.

"But there's still that possibility, right?"

Her irritated silence was answer enough.

"Sorry," intoned Neptune. "You were saying?"

"Hmm. What I was saying was…" Weiss continued, growing solemn. "He just… appears, and I… I don't know what to do. I thought I would. Hell, I've even recited the things I would say to him if I ever ran into him again, but quite frankly, I have no idea what to say to him… or anything."

She turned to Neptune, her brow furrowed in frustration. "I still want to be with you. I do. But… I just need to move on from Jaune first. I just don't know how."

Neptune sighed thoughtfully. "So… do you want some more time to think about it?"

Weiss nodded, her eyes distant once more. "Yes. I would very much appreciate that. Do you mind if we follow the van a bit longer?"

"Sure," murmured the blue-haired boy. "We've got time."

* * *

"Hey Pyrrha," Jaune turned towards the red-headed girl in front of him. "Can you sing at all?"

"Umm… a little bit," she answered over the van's bass-heavy music. "Why do you ask?"

Jaune grinned. "I've always wanted to have band where all of us can harmonize together as well as play our respective instruments. I mean, Nora and I do that already, and we need to pressure Ren into doing more vocal work, too. But can you imagine four-part harmonies? I think that could be really rad."

Blake snickered. "Did you just say rad?"

"Yeah, I did." Jaune frowned. "Why?"

"I was not aware that people still used that word," said Blake, a hint of a smile playing on her lips.

"Hey, it's a pretty cool word," argued Jaune.

"Would you say that it's… rad?"

Jaune rolled his eyes, trying his best not to laugh. "Awful. Just awful."

"Sorry," chuckled Blake. "I'm just trying to make up for the lack of Yang here."

Jaune grinned mischievously. "Well, we might have some duct tape and a couple of 40s back here somewhere."

The only response he got back from Blake was a half-frown, half-smile.

"Jaune – 1, Blake – 0," he teased triumphantly, before shifting his attention back to Pyrrha. "So are you interested in doing some vocal stuff? You don't have to if you don't want to."

"Oh, no, I would love to!" exclaimed Pyrrha. "I've done both drumming and singing in the past, but I've just never done them both at the same time. I'd like to try though!"

"Awesome!"

Blake smiled to herself as she watched the two discuss harmonies and equipment. In the whole of the night, this was probably the most happy Jaune looked, which sharply contrasted his worriedness not ten minutes ago. _I guess we both really needed to get all those apologies off our chests. I still don't know why I yelled at him… he's a really cool guy… _

In fact, one of the things she least expected to occur that night was her meeting people as cool as Ren, Nora, Jaune, and Pyrrha. The plan had been just to go see Casey with Yang then head home, but instead she had somehow made some friends that night. It was hard enough finding people that Blake could even tolerate, even with Yang's incessant coaxing, but these people… she actually wanted to hang out with them.

Ren and Nora, the package deal, brought an interesting dynamic that made every situation easy and lighthearted. Pyrrha was just the absolute nicest person that Blake had ever met – who wouldn't want to be friends with her?

As for Jaune… they had so much in common. From their love of obscure music, to their shared apprehensiveness towards social situations – hell, she'd even revealed her faunus heritage to him. And she didn't regret it. Their awkward banter was something that she truly enjoyed. Even if just as friends.

_And I mean, Yang's still out and about God knows where, _she thought. _But if it weren't for that…I think I would be okay with this._

And as at ease as she was with the current situation, there was still one thing she could not let go of.

"Hey Nora!" Blake called to the front. "Does anyone besides Jaune use the word 'rad' anymore?"

Nora called back. "Nope. I've only ever heard Jauney saying it, and he keeps insisting it's a thing."

"It sounds pretty stupid," added Ren.

"That too," agreed Nora.

"What…?" Jaune remained stubborn. "Nah. It's totally a thing! Back me up, Pyrrha!" He turned desperately towards the red-head.

"Honestly…? I've only ever heard people from Vacuo say 'rad,'" admitted Pyrrha sheepishly.

"See?" Jaune remained adamant.

"We live in Vale, Jaune, where _nobody_ says 'rad,'" giggled Blake. "I'm sorry, but I have to agree with Ren and Nora. It sounds stupid."

Jaune crossed his arms. "I'm gonna make it a thing. Just you watch."

Blake smiled. "Nora?"

"Not in this van, it won't," Nora replied. "Lame-o."

The blonde boy grumbled. "Stop using my friends against me."

"Oh hush. You're just mad that I'm right." Blake playfully poked him in the shoulder, much in the same way a cat would.

"You win this round for now... kitty-cat."

"..."

Pyrrha chuckled leaned forward towards Nora. "They _would_ make a cute couple," she whispered.

Nora grinned. "I'm saying!"

"Didn't Jaune say he _wasn't_ looking for potential dates?" butted in Ren.

"Just focus on the driving, Kato," teased Nora, and Pyrrha snorted.

Ren sighed. "Really?"

* * *

One thing that Sun learned very quickly was that carrying around an unconscious girl through the city was a surefire way to get you _a lot_ of weird looks.

"Nothing to see here, move along," he grumbled as Yang flopped in his arms. As most people do when given that piece of advice, they continued to stare.

The second thing Sun learned slightly less quickly was that he was lost.

Finding the nearest comfortable looking building, he carefully leaned Yang against it in a sitting position before sitting next to her.

After making sure she was still breathing, he pulled out his phone and made a call.

"Hey dude. Yeah listen, I kinda have a few problems here. First of all, I don't really know where the venue Casey's gonna be playing at. What? They're _not _playing at midnight? Oh shit. Okay. I guess I got a lot of time to find this venue then. It's where? Ah, okay, got it. Nah, I'm like a few blocks from it. Wait, don't go there? Oh yeah, I guess we can meet elsewhere. It's just… there's this girl with me. No no, nothing like that. I mean, she almost straight up ripped my pants open before she passed the fuck out. Yeah, I was told by her friend to deliver her at the venue. Her name? I think it was Yang… huh? You know her? Yeah, her friend was called Blake, crazy one. Threatened to… never mind, that's not important. Okay, yeah, sure. I'll bring her with me, if you guys can get her back. Yeah, totally rad, man. What? Of course it's a word! What do you mean 'rad' is not a word? Alright, yeah yeah. I'll see you guys in a bit. Bye."

"'Rad' is totally a word. Fucking plebs…" he muttered to himself as he put away his phone. As he did so, a hand grasped his shoulder, and he froze.

"Okay, Yang, we're not doing this here…" he started before seeing the confused expression on Yang's face.

"Right…" she murmured slowly, as she got to her feet and tightened her grip on the cuff of Sun's shirt. "Who are you? Where are we? How do you know my name? And where the hell are my friends?"

By this point, Yang had completely lifted him off the pavement by the collar and tightened her other hand into a fist.

Sun blinked.

"Oh… I'm not sure if this is better or worse than before."

* * *

**Yeah, it's much easier writing from Blake's perspective. You can't really do much from an oblivious standpoint.**

**I've already begun working on the next chapter, and it is coming out in waves. I might have it out a bit earlier than usual if I keep up the pace. Shit starts to go down, too, so that will be loads of fun.**

**Oh, and I actually _do_ use the word "rad" quite often. It's totally a thing; I'll fight you over it.**

**Anyway, that's enough out of me. I tend to ramble.**

**Til next time!**


	7. Feels Like We Only Go Backwards

**Hello, one and all! I'm back with a chapter super early this time around!**

**This one almost wrote itself. It's a fun and complicated little chapter, so I'll shut up now and let you get to it.**

**Song is "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" by Tame Impala.**

**Beta: Maxaro. Your color commentary was fantastic this week. It also gave me a few things to change, so thanks!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Feels Like We Only Go Backwards**

* * *

The White Whale, despite its grandiose name, was a rather small venue, very similar to the bar that the Juniperberries recently played at. The main difference was that whereas the bar had favored itself more of a bar than a venue, The White Whale embraced its venue side much more, and the condition of the venue wasn't quite as up to par in comparison to the bar, with patches of chipped paint lining the walls.

The place was already packed with eager fans of Casey and the Red Rosies, which Blake found rather suffocating. She followed closely behind Jaune and the others as they tried to find a spot on the open floor that was less concentrated than the rest of the place. When they finally came to a standstill, Blake pleasantly realized that they had managed to end up surprisingly close to the stage area.

Jaune noticed Blake's apparent uneasiness and grabbed her hands, pulling her towards him.

"Hey," he grinned. "You know this song?"

Blake paused a moment to listen over the raucous crowd.

_"Broke into the old apartment,_

_This is where we used to live._

_Broken glass, broke and hungry,_

_Broken hearts and broken bones,_

_This is where we used to live..."_

"Yeah, I think I do. This is 'The Old Apartment' by Butch Flowers, right?"

"Yup," replied Jaune. "I've actually been to one of Butch's concerts before. The thing about this song is that he always wants people to dance to it."

"Oh!" An amused smile played on Blake's lips, as she recalled a certain piece of info that Jaune had told her. "Is this the part where you break out you best dance moves? Oh, I've been waiting for this."

"Well… not quite," said Jaune, with a twinkle in his eye. "What Butch actually says is, 'For this song, I want you guys to go find someone to dance with.'"

With that, Blake remembered that Jaune was still holding her hands.

"Wait, hold on a moment-"

Before she could protest further, Jaune laughed and pulled her close to him, then back out, twirling her as she went. Having been caught off guard, she stumbled for a brief moment, but soon, Blake started moving in step with Jaune, letting him lead her.

At first, she concentrated on the patterns that Jaune pulled her through, doing her best to nail the rhythm down. But with each step, she grew relaxed, and with the departure of nervousness, a different feeling began coursing through her veins – delight.

And just like that, the world around her seemed to vanish. For a moment, it was just Blake and Jaune. She moved freely, guided by Jaune's hands. All her apprehensions began to fade away, and she put her faith in the blonde boy, trusting him to catch her if she fell.

They danced gracefully with one another, and the joy in Blake's chest came rushing out in elated laughter. As they moved, she turned her gaze towards Jaune, whose smile appeared to reflect the same joy.

In that single moment, Blake was happy.

But time passed by swiftly, and the song began to draw to a close, much to Blake's lament. With its final note, Blake found herself face to face with Jaune, pushing up against him. Their eyes wavered on one another for a moment more, and Blake almost lost herself in the pure blueness of Jaune's eyes before the applause from the crowd around them thrust her back into reality.

Blake leaned her head against Jaune's chest to try to hide the color rushing into her face. "You really _are_ a good dancer."

Jaune smiled back at her. "You didn't do so bad yourself."

"I was just following your lead," Blake assured him as she pulled away from their embrace. "You made me look good."

The crowd had slowly fallen back into place, now more restless than ever. Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha gathered back around the two.

"You two looked grand out there!" beamed Pyrrha, and both Jaune and Blake quietly thanked her.

"Geez," muttered Nora. "You'd think that for such a rare show Casey'd pick a less shitty venue than this."

Pyrrha nodded in agreement. "I have to say, it does look rather decrepit."

"That's Casey for you," said Jaune, shrugging. "They'd pick hole-in-the-wall places way before any bigger stages. Although… did we check to see if they might have pulled the bait-and-switch?"

"Hmm…" Ren frowned. "That might have been a good idea to do beforehand."

"What do you mean?" inquired Blake.

"Sometimes Casey and the Red Rosies pull off this dick move where they spread the word that their show is at one place and time but it's really at another," explained Jaune. "There's usually some detective work involved to find the actual place, but we just so happened to take their word for it this time around."

"Oh," Blake sighed. "So there's a chance we're not at the right place or time."

Jaune nodded. "Yeah. Although, we're already here, so we might as well stick it out, right? Plus, that guy said he was bringing Yang here?"

"Actually," began Blake. "I don't think he ever specified which venue he was going to…"

Before she could complete the though, she felt a strong hand grab her shoulder as it turned her around, almost forcefully.

"Blake? What are _you_ doing here?"

Blake looked up to see a tall, red-haired faunus man with prominent bull horns. He had a sly smile on his face, and the strong scent of alcohol wafted from his mouth.

"Adam? Hey, I guess it's been a while-"

The bull-horned man didn't let her finish as he pulled her towards him roughly and kissed her.

Immediately, the panic bells went off in Blake's brain. She tried to shove Adam away from her, but the man had the advantage of size and strength over her, and prolonged their kiss for far longer than she was comfortable with.

When he finally pulled away, Blake stood there in shock, her heart sinking into the pit of her stomach. She ventured a halfhearted look at Jaune, and cringed.

Jaune looked shattered.

The bull man continued to talk. "It's been forever since I've seen you! Holy shit, I think you might have gotten more beautiful since the last time we talked. Not that you weren't beautiful before, but damn, look at you now."

"And you're… exactly the same," mumbled Blake.

Adam grinned. "I see you've made some friends here. I thought my Blake didn't talk much to other people! Why don't you introduce me?"

"Uh… right." Blake weakly gestured towards the others, who had also gone quiet at Adam's appearance. "These are my friends Ren, Nora, Jaune, and Pyrrha. Everyone, this is Adam. He's… we're friends."

An arm wrapped around her shoulder sloppily, making Blake shudder. "She's my girl," slurred the bull man.

"Friends," Blake emphasized, albeit feebly, too overwhelmed by the current turn of events to resist Adam's advances.

"Hi," replied Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha quietly. Jaune remained silent.

"Well," smiled Adam, as he leaned against Blake. "Why don't I go get you some drinks? We got a lot of catching up to do, you and I."

"Um, I-" Blake objected, but to no avail, as the bull man steered her towards the bar counter.

She turned her head , looking pleadingly at Jaune, but the blonde averted his eyes.

Adam continued to drone on, but his words fell on Blake's deaf ears as her world came crashing down around her.

* * *

"Hey, Yang?"

"What, monkey boy?"

"Can you put me down? You're drawing a crowd, y'know."

Yang looked out of the corner of her eye. Sure enough, some people had stopped to observe what they were sure to be a beat down. Some of the rowdier folks even weaned her on.

"Kick his ass!"

"Make him squeal!"

"Down with the patriarchy!"

That last one made Yang chuckle slightly.

"Please?" Sun was practically begging her at this point. "This is just a little misunderstanding…"

Yang hesitated a moment, then dropped the faunus, who crumpled in a heap.

The crowd began to groan and boo.

"Oh, grow up!" Yang yelled. "I ain't gonna beat him up."

Grumbling, the onlookers dispersed.

Sun groaned as he climbed to his feet. "Fuck, man. That was starting to get out of hand."

Yang sighed and shoved him back against the wall of the nearest building. "You're not off the hook yet, monkey boy."

Sun gave a nervous laugh. "The last time you had me up against the wall, you were trying to do something else completely."

The blonde girl growled and lifted a curled fist to his face.

Sun gulped. "Okay, bad joke. I'll start talking now."

It took a good five minutes for Sun to relay the evening's events to Yang as they had happened. When he finally finished, Yang sighed and clutched her face.

"Dammit. I promised Blake I wasn't gonna drink too much…"

Sun peered at her. "For the record, are you sober now?"

Yang shook her head. "My head's only just beginning to settle, but at least I can think straight now."

"Oh good. Now I don't have to lug around the drunk girl who kept trying to get in my pants," snarked Sun.

Yang threw him a glare.

"I'm sorry, please don't hurt me!"

The blonde girl grew somber. "Look. I… I really appreciate you taking care of me this whole time. I really do. So… y'know, thanks."

"Uh… yeah." Yang's change in attitude threw Sun for a loop. He wasn't quite sure how to respond. "No problem… I guess…"

An awkward silence hung over them for a minute or so.

"So… what's the plan now?" Yang asked slowly.

"My friends said to meet at this street corner not too far from here. There's actually supposed to be a really nice pizza place there or something. You, uh, you wanna grab a bite?" Sun offered.

"Sure. I guess pizza sounds nice."

* * *

Nora reached up and grabbed Jaune by the shoulder. "Jauney?"

"Hmm?"

"You, uh, you okay?" she asked him.

"Oh, yeah! Why wouldn't I be? I mean we get to see Casey, after all! That's what we came here for, right?" As hard as he tried, Jaune was not very convincing.

"Jaune," murmured Ren. "We're sorry."

Jaune blinked. "For what?"

"Well…" Ren began. "We dragged you out to get away from the thoughts of one girl… and now this happened. Seems the night didn't quite go as planned, buddy, and for that… we're sorry."

"Ren, I'm fine. Really."

"So then, you're not upset about the Blake thing?"

"Oh." Jaune face fell for a split second, then returned to his fake bravado. "Well, y'know… we only just met tonight. Besides, I wasn't really _looking_ for anyone, anyway."

"Jaune." Pyrrha stepped forward and gave him a smile. "You shouldn't need to legitimize the way you feel about things. It's okay if things are unplanned. Life happens that way, so you don't have to try to block out your feelings."

Jaune smiled appreciatively at Pyrrha. "Sometimes it's easier trying to just forget about it."

Nora scoffed. "That's never worked out for you in the past."

"I suppose not," chuckled Jaune. "Look, you guys. I'll be okay. If not now… then eventually."

Suddenly the crowd began to roar in excitement. Ren, Nora, Jaune, and Pyrrha turned towards the stage to see what the fuss was all about.

A gray-haired young man walked out onto the stage up front. He carried himself in a very confident manner; everything about the man screamed "smug."

"Ladies and gentlemen!" he announced with an arrogant smile. "You've all been waiting for this moment for a long time, haven't you?"

The crowd cheered.

The man smirked, and crooned, "What was that? I can't hear you!"

The cheers became louder, hurling approvals and uncontained excitement at the singular man on stage.

"I _said_, I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

The room became so deafening that it hurt.

"Well then," he drawled, his smile growing even wider. "Why don't you all give up a hand…"

A collective breath was held.

"… FOR THE CARDINALS!"

The crowd hesitated for a moment as realization that they had been played dawned on them.

And as the metaphoric glass shattered, the boos of the audience filled the room.

"That's not Casey!"

"Yeah! We're here for Casey, you fucker!"

"Fuck you, man!"

Instead of Casey and the Red Rosies, a band of four thuggish-looking characters marched out onstage. The frontman, a tall, imposing man with brown hair, hunched over the mic stand. "We're The Cardinals, and we're about to rock your fucking world!" he snarled as the band launched into a fast-paced punk riff.

Over the din of the disappointed crowd and the incredibly mediocre punk rock, the four friends shared a knowing glance.

"We got baited," called out Jaune.

"Can't believe we didn't check," groaned Nora. "Let's go. If we stay in this shithole any longer, I might go punch that frontman. And trust me, he has a _really _punchable face."

By this point, most of the aggravated attendees were on their way out of the venue. As the foursome exited among the flocks of people, Jaune turned his head to see if he could catch a glimpse of the familiar amber eyes and bow near the bar counter, but as the rest of the crowd pushed and shoved against him, he reluctantly gave up and stepped out into now chilly night air.

Jaune shivered. _Maybe I should've hung on to that jacket,_ he thought to himself wistfully as he trailed behind the other three. _Who knows if I'll get it back at this point? I didn't even grab her number. Good job on that foresight, Jaune. Idiot._

The droves of people slowly dispersed into the city, and the foursome finally reached the van, which they had parked a few blocks down, with the parking space at The White Whale completely bursting at the seams.

"So… what do we do now?" wondered Nora out loud.

"Well, we could still check some of the regular spots to see if Casey left any clues we missed," mused Ren. "Besides, we've yet to show Pyrrha our favorite chowdowns and watering holes."

Pyrrha chuckled. "You guys don't have to, you know."

"Don't sweat it, Pyr-Pyr! That sounds like a perfect idea!" beamed Nora, but even _her_ enthusiasm was beginning waver visibly.

They all climbed aboard the van tiredly, just glad to be away from the mess at the venue, but as Jaune stuck one foot in, he heard someone shouting his name in the distance.

"Jaune! Hold on a moment!"

He knew whose voice it belonged to. With a deep breathe, he turned around.

Blake skidded to a stop in front of Jaune and the van, moderately out of breath. "Thank God. I was worried you guys had left."

Jaune cocked his head. "What are you doing here? I thought you were that Adam guy."

"I, uh… I'd much rather be here. With you guys. I told him as much, too." Her eyes stared holes into the ground beneath them.

Jaune offered her a slight smile. "Yang didn't turn up?"

Blake laughed nervously. "That would probably be a nightmare for us all if she got 'turnt up' some more."

"Very funny."

"Eheh. Sorry." Blake shoved her hands deep in the pockets of Jaune's jacket. "The whole place went empty and she still hadn't appeared yet. I'm guessing she and Sun are near the other venue, wherever that is."

Jaune nodded. "Alright. Come on, then, let's get going. Besides, it's a little too chilly outside to just be standing here and talking." He started to climb in the van.

"Um…" Blake shuffled in place, her eyes drifting back to her feet. "You guys are still okay with me riding along?"

Jaune gave her a strange look. "Of course. Why wouldn't we be? C'mon now, we should get going." He offered his hand to the faunus girl.

She looked paused briefly, gazing at the hand, and graciously took it.

Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha shared a look and shrugged collectively.

* * *

Yang and Sun sat at the only occupied table in an otherwise very much deserted pizza place. The hours were pretty late there, accommodating for any of the Saturday night party-goers or stray potheads looking to indulge their munchies, but so far the pizza place remained empty. Even the guy who ran the place was nowhere to be seen.

A single medium pizza, topped with ham, pineapple, and jalapenos, rested between the two. On Yang's side, only a slice had been touched, much less finished, while Sun plowed through his fair share of slices.

"I was sure I had more of an appetite than that," admitted Yang, slumping back in her seat. "Funny, it's like I ate something while I was out."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" mumbled Sun in between bites.

"Geez," muttered Yang. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to talk with a mouth full of food?"

"Well, you knocked a perfectly good sandwich out of my hand while we were on that subway. So at the current moment I am _very_ hungry. I'm gonna enjoy the fuck outta this pizza, and you're not gonna stop me this time, aight?"

Yang snickered. "Fine. Whatever floats your boat." She reached for another slice. "So, who are these friends of yours, anyway?"

The monkey faunus finished his fourth slice before pausing for a slight break. "Well, one of them's an old friend of mine, back when we lived in Vacuo. He's a pretty cool guy, but between you and me, I think he's compensating for something. Really nice guy, though, if you get to know him."

Sun held a hand up to his mouth briefly, modestly burping. "The other one is his girlfriend. I haven't met her yet, but she sounds like a bit of a bitch. For some reason, my bro's totally into her though, even though I keep telling him not to stick his dick in crazy…"

Yang's brow furrowed. "That sound's really familiar."

Sun grabbed another slice and dived in. "Funny you should say that. Apparently she says she knows you. Was surprised that you weren't with that Blake girl, she said."

"Ah." It was only too obvious as to who _that_ was.

"Hey," Sun grunted, chewing thoughtfully. "Why don't you give your that Blake girl a call? You were a little too drunk to do it the last time around."

"Good idea." Yang finished her second slice before reaching for her phone and tried to make the call.

"Fuck."

"Whatsup?"

"My phone's dead," grumbled Yang as she put it away.

"Wanna use my phone?"

"Thanks, but I can't remember Blake's number for the life of me." Yang lightly smacked her face into the table. "There goes that lifeline."

"Guess you're not winning a million bucks," Sun joked.

Yang laughed. "Nope. Not tonight, anyhow." She glanced down at the now empty space at the table. "Oh holy shit. You actually finished the whole thing."

"Not a problem for me!" Sun sighed happily, patting his stomach. "Just a little bit of working out and I'll be back to good!"

"Wow. You're not a tool at all," teased Yang.

"Oi! I don't go around drinking my ass off until I can barely walk." Sun's eyes flashed competitively. "I can actually keep down my booze."

"HA! Yeah right. You don't even know how many drinks I had! I _know_ that nobody can compete with me when it comes to drinking, and they can fight me if they think otherwise."

"Oh yeah, the assaulting random people part isn't so great either, by the way," muttered Sun before his former bravado returned. "How many drinks could you have possibly downed?"

Yang stared him dead in the eye. "Twenty-five," she grinned smugly.

"Oh." The confident look on Sun's face dropped immediately. "We talking beers or like straight up drinks?"

"Well," Yang scratched her chin. "They started off as mojitos, but I kinda lost track of what I was drinking by the end of it."

"Okay. That's pretty impressive," admitted the faunus boy. "Yeah, I couldn't hold a candle to that. Shit, even if that was just beers, that's still pretty crazy. Like, how are you not going to pee all the fuckin' time?"

"I don't know and at this point I really don't think I want to. For all I know, some poor homeless guy might be running around wiping the… uh… well, you get the picture."

"Unfortunately, yeah."

They sat there momentarily, trying to bleach the image from their brains.

"Well, I guess we should pay for this pizza," muttered Sun.

The blonde across from him frowned. "Well… I mean, I would… but there's literally no one here."

They glanced around awkwardly the eerily empty restaurant for any signs of life. "Hello? Yo, pizza man, you there?" Sun called out.

No reply.

Suddenly, a sly smile played on Yang's face. "Hey, Sun."

"Yeah?"

"Well… the pizza's out of the way… and there's no one here…"

"Uh-huh."

"… Wanna do it on the table?"

Sun's eyes widened. "I thought we were past this part."

Yang winked at him. "Oh c'mon. I might've been a little drunk, but I know a hot, good-natured guy when I see one. Besides…" She leaned closed to him. "We don't have to tell anybody."

"We don't?" Blake's threat echoed clearly in Sun's mind. "You sure?"

"Not a soul has to know." The blonde girl had practically climbed on top of the table at this point, her face inches away from the faunus's.

Sun swallowed nervously._ Fuck it._ "You remember that part where I said something about not sticking your dick in crazy? Yeah, forget I said that."

* * *

**OH SNAP! DEY BOUTTA DO DA DO!**

**That was a fun chapter to write, indeed. Between the drama of Adam's entrance and Yang and Sun's antics.. shit's kickin' off!**

**Cameos by the dickheads Mercury and CRDL, if you missed it. That's all we'll be seeing of them, but I think everyone's okay with that.**

**Also, the song "The Old Apartment" is originally by the Barenaked Ladies. If you caught the Butch Flowers reference, good on ya!**

**(Admission of guilt: I totally skipped a class to post this. Dammit, UhhICanExplain, get your shit together...)**

**Reviews are welcome, as always. Please feed my incredibly small ego.**

**Until next time!**


	8. Back Seat

**It's me again! Bet you're tired of seeing me, huh?**

**This chapter is a lot about fleshing out our characters. A lot of insight will be provided on how people tick. But you'll see.**

**The song is "Back Seat" by Atlas Genius.**

**Beta: Maxaro. You found me out, I'm trying to fuck with you using all manners of strange food.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Back Seat**

* * *

"And either Yang turned off her phone or it's dead," Blake stared at her own phone with a sigh.

Jaune gave her a reassuring smile. "No worries. We'll figure something out."

"Thanks."

The van was devoid of music this time around, as Ren drove almost aimlessly through the metropolitan maze of downtown Vale. It was now past midnight, but all signs of life outside the van indicated that the night was still young.

That energy did not reflect on the inside of the van, however. Even Nora sat quietly in shotgun, occasionally turning to share whispered conversations with Pyrrha.

Everyone seemed puckered out from the disappointment of the Casey debacle – among other things.

"Hey, Blake?" Jaune murmured, leaning nonchalantly on the right wall of vehicle.

"Yes?" A minute feeling of dread crawled up the faunus girl's spine.

Jaune chewed his lip before replying. "Well… I was just wondering who that Adam guy was."

"Right." Blake knew the question was coming, but it still hit her like a ton of bricks.

Sensing her unease, the blonde interjected. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"No, no. It's alright. I think you deserve to know." Blake sat up a little straighter on her side of the van. "Adam's an old friend of mine. I've known him since we were kids. We kind of grew up together, honestly; our parents weren't around much, so we took care of each other. I guess somewhere down the line, we got very close… we never got into an actual relationship, per se, but we got pretty damn close."

Jaune stared at his feet. "So like… friends with benefits?"

"Oh, God, no!" Blake exclaimed. "I mean… we fooled around, but we never went all the way. But I guess he thought differently."

She shifted in her spot. "When we got older, I became more… wary of the world, of people. I began to like being alone. But Adam… became more bold. He started hanging out with a lot of DJ-type people and such and started making his own EDM music. I… I don't know why, but he started thinking he was such hot shit. He kept telling me how I should keep hanging around him since he was gonna blow up in the music world."

Grimacing, Blake bitterly continued. "The stupidest part was… that I believed him. I thought, why shouldn't I? This was my childhood friend! I couldn't just leave him. And then I guess we… we did stuff, and I… I mean, I was okay with it… but he took it in a completely different way than I did. From then on he just kept advancing on me, even in front of our friends, and he just refused to understand why I tried to pushed him away. Saying shit like, 'You're lucky to have a guy like me!' or 'I'm gonna be rich and famous one day and you're gonna miss out!' It wasn't until then that I realized he didn't care about me anymore; he just wanted to feed his ego. He just wanted to be some big shot and I was gonna be his trophy lady. Just like that – our childhood friendship flushed down the fucking toilet."

By this time, tears had leaked down Blake's face, and Jaune instantly scrambled over to her, wiping her cheeks on the sleeve of his shirt. At a time like this, the blonde boy did not trust himself to say anything, and instead wrapped his other arm around Blake's shoulders, trying to comfort her.

Sniffling, Blake accepted the soothing motion and leaned against Jaune's collarbone. "Sorry," she laughed, her voice cracking slightly. "I didn't mean to become a sniveling mess."

"It happens to the best of us," Jaune smiled. "Fuck, you should've seen me when Weiss broke up with me. Not one of my prouder moments."

Blake chuckled. "The thing that bothers me now… I hadn't seen Adam in God knows how long. A year, maybe? But he walks up to me like nothing happened and has the nerve to kiss me. If he cared, he would've had the sense to actually try to talk to me like a man. But didn't care. He never did."

"Well, you've got plenty of people who care for you now," Jaune offered. "Yang, for one. And now you've got all of us!"

"Yeah…" Blake gave a crooked smile. "Funny how these things work out."

They held each other in silence for a while, enjoying the warmth that each provided the other. Words were not exchanged between the two for several minutes; they didn't need them, anyhow.

Jaune watched as Blake wiped the last of her tears with her- no, _his_ jacket. "Is it okay if we trade pity parties?" he asked.

Blake laughed softly. "I spilled my heart out, so it's only fair you get to go."

"Thanks." Jaune's expression became somber. "You… you wanna know why I beat myself so much over being broken up with Weiss?"

"Why?"

Jaune sighed. "I think… I think that, for the most part, I blamed myself for our breakup."

The faunus girl looked up at him, her brow furrowed. "Go on."

With a slight hesitation, Jaune began. "It's just… before we broke up, I started getting more dedicated to getting our band off the ground. I guess she wasn't happy with us spending less time together. I mean, she got more distant as time went on, and then eventually she just broke up with me. I really didn't know why at the time, and even now it's still a bit of guesswork, but I just blamed myself for it. I couldn't for the life of me figure any other reason for her to just leave."

"So, is that why you were all bent out of shape when I met you?"

"Pretty much. I'm not good at dealing with when I fuck up. Y'know, I just wanted to get the chance to talk to her and see if there was anything I could fix. She just… never answered my calls."

Blake frowned. "Jaune. First thing's first – that's a dumb way to think."

"… Okay." Jaune blinked. "Wasn't quite expecting that."

"Sorry, but it really is." Blake chuckled. "Let's put aside the fact that I already don't like Weiss very much. The thing about relationships is that each person has to do their part. It takes both people to make a relationship work. If you go in doing all the heavy lifting, then something's wrong. Not to mention, I'm guessing Weiss didn't actually tell you that doing more band stuff bothered her?"

"Hmmmm," hummed Jaune. "Now that I think about it, she never really said much about it. I just assumed after she left."

"Well, she didn't tell you, and add insult to injury, she just up and called your relationship off. That's bad communication, commitment, just bad for any relationship. I mean, I'm not just trying to give you peace of mind by telling you this – don't blame yourself for that she failed to do. You're a decent guy, Jaune. If you could fix it, you would."

Jaune sighed once more. "Even though I saw the signs and didn't say anything?"

Blake lightly batted at his nose in mock exasperation. "You're blaming yourself again. Remember, a relationship only works if both people's hearts are in it, and knowing Weiss, I'd say she wasn't going to stick around for very long anyway." Her eyes shifted to the floor. "I learned that when I was with Adam, and I really don't want to see anyone else go through that."

"Right…" Jaune held her tighter, as if he were trying to protect the vulnerable side that she had shown him. "I guess the same sentiment goes for you, too."

From inside Jaune's arms, Blake smiled. "Thank you, Jaune."

"Of course. And thank_ you_."

The pair stayed in each other's arms for quite some time. With time, all the worries and pains of yesterday washed away, replaced by solace. It was a truly wonderful, freeing feeling.

Even if just briefly.

"Hey," Jaune murmured to no one in particular. "Are we stopping at another gas station?"

"Sorry," smiled Pyrrha sheepishly. "Nora and I need to use the bathroom."

"Not sure why you'd need to be sorry for using the bathroom, but yeah," chimed Nora."

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to walk around a bit," admitted Blake. "My legs are actually a little numb."

Jaune frowned. "Shit, my bad."

The faunus girl gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it. I just sat wrong, that's all. You coming?"

"Nah," Jaune answered hesitantly. "I think I'll stay back here and… think about what you said, if that's alright."

Blake nodded, looking rather appreciative of his action.

"We'll be right back!" With that, Nora bounced out the van, with Pyrrha and Blake following behind her at a more reasonable pace.

Jaune sighed and leaned back against the van wall contentedly.

"You seem happy," noted Ren, turning slightly from the driver's seat.

"Is it _that_ obvious?" asked Jaune.

"Very. It's a nice change of pace for you, Jaune."

The blonde snorted. "Very funny."

"I'm serious, Jaune," Ren insisted. "You've been a bit of a mess for the past few weeks, if I can say that."

"Well, you already did," Jaune grumbled. "But, yeah, I know."

Ren smirked. "I'd say our new friend Blake is just what you needed."

"She's… well…" Jaune pondered for a moment. "She's an amazing person. One of the coolest people I've met, by far. I mean, you could absolutely be right. But, y'know… I don't want to rush headfirst into things. Especially not with someone as incredible as Blake. She definitely doesn't need me to go fucking things up, so let's just take things one step at a time."

"Hmm… okay."

"… That's it? No… scathing criticism or telling me I should stop waiting around?"

"No. I only ever did that when you were with Weiss. For obvious reasons."

Jaune exhaled. "Point taken, although I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing…"

"Hey, only time will tell, right?" Ren pointed to one of the many to-go boxes a few feet from Jaune's feet. "Hand me those pancakes, will you?"

* * *

Blake walked down the shoddy-looking snack aisles, vigorously shaking the feeling back into her legs as she glanced around for perhaps a pack of gum or something even remotely appetizing.

It was rather appalling, really, that no convenience stores that Blake had ever been to sold any fish jerky. Sure, fish tended to go bad pretty quickly, but fish jerky just seemed like a no-brainer.

_That's a business venture if I ever saw one,_ Blake chuckled quietly to herself. She shivered and thrust her hands deeper into the pockets of Jaune's jacket. _Did it just get colder all of a sudden or-_

"Fancy seeing you here."

Blake whirled around to see Weiss adjacent to her, with her own attention on the various gum flavors on the shelf.

No. Blake did _not_ need this right now. Anything but this.

"_You._" The faunus girl's eyes narrowed. "What do _you_ want?"

"What does it look like I want?" The girl in white picked up a spearmint pack and turned on her heel to face Blake, waving the pack in her face. "Seriously, I thought the faunus were supposed to be more attentive than that."

Growling irritably, Blake snatched a packet of green apple gum and brushed past Weiss.

The paler girl smirked and followed her. "A little birdy told me that you weren't able to keep an eye on Yang this time around."

Blake had reached the cashier before she froze in place. "_What?_ Who told you that?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "So dramatic. Does the name 'Sun' ring a bell?"

"Yeah! He was the one who took care of-"

Weiss waved a hand emphatically. "Oh I know. You don't have to tell me. He's actually really good friends with Neptune, so naturally he told us everything, and I must say, it's quite the story, with Yang's alcoholism and your ineptitude to keep an eye on her. Some best friend _you_ are."

"Did you just come here to gloat?" snarled Blake.

"Ahem."

They both turned towards the elderly cashier, who made no attempt to hide his annoyance.

"Oh, sorry." Blake handed the stick of gum and pulled out some loose change.

"Sometimes I have a hard time believing you're a faunus if not for those ears," Weiss jeered snidely. "Anyways, no, I'm not here to gloat. I was just thinking that since you're here, I can actually call Sun for you, if you'd like."

Blake frowned. "When did _you_ turn into a good Samaritan?"

Weiss huffed. "Look, do you want me to call him or not?"

"I'm inclined to think there's a catch, but I guess, yeah. Please." Blake picked up her gum and crossed her arms in anticipation.

"Very well," Weiss pulled out her phone and dialed Sun's number.

* * *

"_URSA! URSA! That's a big ursa!"_

Yang froze. "What the fuck is that?" she panicked.

Sun sighed from underneath her. "Relax. It's just my phone. Which so happens to be in my pants. Which… are on the floor. And we're here… on the table."

"Oh." Yang grinned slyly, inches away from Sun's face. "I guess that's too bad, huh?"

The faunus boy groaned. "Yang. Could you please grab it for me?"

"Fine." Yang grumbled. "Just a piece of advice – never a good idea to answer your phone while in the middle of pleasing a woman."

Sun shrugged. "Just think of it like it's some voyeuristic-type shit. Maybe you're into that, I ain't judging."

Rolling her eyes, Yang reached over Sun's shoulder and grabbed his phone from the pants, brushing herself purposefully against Sun's chest in the process, to which he gulped audibly.

"Alrighty, who've we got here…" Yang checked the caller ID before she frowned. "Oh, it's Weiss? Wonder what she wants…"

"… Can I have my phone?"

"Right. Sorry."

Sun moved a finger to answer his phone, then stopped and looked at Yang. "You wanna get off me first, maybe?"

"Not a chance."

"Fuck." Sun sighed and answered the phone. "Hey Weiss."

"_Hey Sun. Is Yang with you?"_

Sun didn't have to look far. "She's right here."

"_Great!" _Weiss exclaimed._ "I've got someone who wants to talk to her."_

"Um… okay." The faunus boy looked at Yang. "It's for you."

Confused, Yang took the phone from him and pressed it against her ear. "Hello?"

"_Yang? It's me, Blake!"_

"Blake!" Yang shot up abruptly into a sitting position, making Sun wince. "Hey, I'm so sorry I couldn't call you! My phone died on me."

"_I figured as much. Weiss told me that you guys are somewhere in the middle of downtown?"_

"Yeah. Apparently, Neptune told us to wait at this pizza place on the corner of Luna Avenue and Shawcross Street." Yang glanced at Sun for reassurance, and he nodded.

"_Luna… and Shawcross… okay, Weiss told me they were going to pick you guys up in a bit, but since we finally know where you are now, we'll drop by and get you. So just stay put, and we'll meet you there, okay?"_

"Yeah! Sounds great!" said Yang excitedly.

Sun bit his lip hard. "Yang, please stop moving…"

"Sorry," she mouthed, with the most insincere look on her face.

Blake's sigh of relief could be heard from the phone. _"Good. Listen… I'm glad that you're alright."_

"Hey, c'mon. Don't you have _any_ faith in me?"

Blake chuckled. _"Frankly, no. Oh, uh… has Sun tried to do anything to you?"_

Yang glanced nervously at the boy she was currently straddling. "Uhhh… n-no. Why do you ask?"

"_Oh good. I just told him that if he tries any funny business, I would castrate him."_

Sun watched with a sense of unease as Yang's eyes grew to the size of baseballs.

"_Uh… Yang? You there?"_

"Oh, yeah, sorry! You were just, uh… breaking up for a second there, but yeah, yeah, I think… I got it." Yang gave a sort of pseudo-laugh.

"_Okay! Meet you there in a bit. Bye!"_

"Bye!" Almost as soon as the word "bye" ended, Yang hung up the phone.

"I've never seen you so fucking flustered before," Sun muttered anxiously. "What did Blake say?"

"N-nothing! No, nothing at all. Haha." Yang cleared her throat. "Let's just keep going, shall we?"

"Funny, because I'm beginning to have third thoughts about this."

Yang gave him an inquisitive look. "You had second thoughts?"

"This whole night with you has been nothing but second thoughts."

* * *

"I suppose I should thank you," murmured Blake as she handed the phone back to Weiss.

"If you must," answered Weiss haughtily, taking her gum from the cashier. "I honestly don't care either way."

"Fine. Whatever suits you." Blake watched, just glad to be rid of such unwanted company, as Weiss strode out with her nose in the air.

She stopped short of the door however. "Do you like Jaune?"

The question took Blake completely by surprise. "W-wha?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "It's a simple question. Please don't tell me you're stumped."

Blake glared daggers at her. "What does it matter to you?"

"Well, first of all, I couldn't help but notice that you're wearing his jacket."

Blake glanced down. The jacket had somewhat become like a second skin over the course of the night.

"Secondly, if you think that I'm just going to let you have him without raising any hell, then you're sadly mistaken."

With that, the girl in white marched out, leaving Blake to stare after her wordlessly, apprehension written all over face.

As Weiss walked out of the presence of light, the darkness hid the single tear that rolled down her face.

* * *

"Remind me… to never do that again on a belly full of pizza," Sun groaned as he laid sprawled across the table. "I feel like I just ran a marathon. Scratch that, I feel like I just _ate_ a marathon…"

Yang laughed, pulling her pants back on. "For a guy with abs, you sure complain a lot about a little bit of exercise."

"Well, why don't _you _try eating six slices of pizza then having a madwoman drag you around by the cuff of your neck?" Sun was promptly shut up by Yang throwing his jeans at his face.

"Rude," she chuckled. "If I recall correctly, you were the one who said you were okay with sticking your dick in crazy. You're not regretting anything, are you?"

Sun sighed. "No. I actually enjoyed it very much."

"Great!" Yang plopped down next to him as he finished dressing. "As pushy as I might be, I don't want you to do anything you don't wanna do."

"Don't sweat it. I _did_ say 'okay,' after all." Sun shuddered. "I'm probably gonna have to face Blake's wrath eventually."

"Oh. Right. I forgot she told you that." Yang shrugged. "Don't worry. I was the one who wanted it, so technically, you're in the clear. Plus, I told you: we don't have to say a word about our little sex party."

"I guess…" Sun seemed surprised, then nodded. "So, this Blake girl… she really cares about you, huh? Trying to make sure you don't get into too much shit?"

Yang laughed. "Blake is a very nice, caring person when you get to know her. But even though she's saved my ass plenty of times, she's not my mom. At the end of the day, she doesn't tell me what to do."

"That sounds a bit harsh, don't ya think?"

"Maybe, but it's true! I'm a very independent person."

"I can tell."

"Oh, hush," Yang muttered, a smile playing on her face. "I just find it real stupid because it's probably a gender bias thing."

Sun squinted. "Explain how."

Yang sighed. "Well, obviously, you know I'm not the chaste person ever. But it's like, if you get a guy who goes around banging lots of people as opposed to a girl doing it, then nobody thinks twice about the guy, but everyone calls the girl a slut. It makes me mad that me being wildly independent is apparently a magnet for trouble, but nobody give a shit if a guy is wildly independent."

The faunus boy frowned. "I don't know about that. It just seems like Blake's really looking out for you. I mean, hell, friends like that are few and far in between, y'know. I don't she's taking gender standards into account here."

"Oh, I'm not blaming Blake for anything." Yang gave him a sincere smile. "I just wish people didn't think that I couldn't handle myself. It's like I'm being held to a completely different standard, but nobody here cares that a guy like you is going off on your own to who knows where."

"Huh. I never thought of it like that." Sun gave a nervous laugh. "Guess that makes me part of the problem?"

Yang looked at him, surprised. "No, I wouldn't say you are. It's not like society preaches those kinds of ideals anyway. You couldn't have known. Besides, you were awesome enough of a person help my drunk ass when I had no idea what I was doing, so you're no problem at all, in my book!"

"Geez, I hope you didn't fuck me because you felt like you owed me anything."

"Oh, no no no!" Yang waved her hands frantically. "It's nothing like that. I just… had a whim, that's all. Plus, I thought you were attractive and that you were a pretty decent human being. I'm a sucker for people like you; there are too many douches in the world as it is."

Sun blinked. "Thanks… I think?"

Yang smiled at him. "You're good, trust me. I've hooked up with one too many assholes in the past. I would know."

"Hold up just a minute here…"

"Oh Christ, here we go."

Sun laughed. "First off, a statement like that doesn't give me that much confidence about where I stand when compared to a sea of assholes."

Yang cringed. "Terrible word choice, but go on."

"Secondly, while I respect your right to do what you want as an independent woman, I'm beginning to question your taste in men here."

"Hey. I was eighteen and horny once. And also very naïve."

"So… nothing's changed?"

Yang elbowed him playfully. "Shaddup, you," she laughed.

Sun grinned. "But in all seriousness… I think you're a very attractive and decent human being yourself. But I guess you already knew that, right?"

"Maybe." Yang leaned her head on his shoulder, smiling. "But thanks."

* * *

**And that's the end of Chapter 8. WEIRD SHIPS GALORE!**

**Some of my personal ideology made it into the fic. Maybe that turned you away, but keeping my thoughts out of my own writing would've been a bit of a stretch, so sorry if you hate me now because of the way I think. If that's the case, we probably wouldn't have liked each other much anyway.**

**Yeah, I'm not about to write smut anytime soon. I read too many of those that completely ruin a story for me, so we'll... skirt around the subject. Besides, your imagination can do the rest.**

**In other news, I just finished reading _Inch_ by GodEmperorPenguin's editor Narutochaos22. It's an excellent read, far better than the cliche crap I'm writing, but it's inspired me to write something a bit less conventional in terms of romance stories. It's another movie-based fic, so look out for that pretty soon. You'll know it when you see it.**

**Reviews are always welcome, as usual.**

**Until next time! Love you all.**


	9. Lie to Me

**What's up everyone?**

**Here's chapter 9 for everyone, while I wait here at the car dealership for them to repair my truck.**

**Things start to go... downhill. But maybe I've said too much already.**

**This chapter's song is "Lie to Me" by Milo Greene. Funny thing is, Barb (who plays Yang) indirectly introduced me to Milo Greene, and although their very new more indie-pop sounding album is vastly different from their debut folk album sound, I cannot get enough of it. Highly recommend it.**

**Beta: Maxaro, as always. I have not played Divinity: Dragon Commander. Should I try it?**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Lie to Me**

* * *

Neptune looked up as Weiss entered his car and slammed the door.

"So… how'd that go over – whoa, hey, are you crying?"

"No!" sniffed Weiss, wiping her face. "I'm not crying."

The blue-haired boy narrowed his eyes. "You're lying again. What'd I say about that, Snow Angel?"

Weiss remained silent for a moment, then spoke, her voice cracking. "She was wearing his fucking jacket. Goddamn, I know I shouldn't be upset. We broke up, after all. But it still hurts."

Neptune gave a sigh. "So… you _are_ still hung up on him."

"I…" Weiss hesitated.

Then she nodded. "Yeah. I'm sorry Neptune, I –"

"It's fine," murmured the blue-haired boy dejectedly.

They sat in uncomfortable silence.

Neptune sat up in his seat. "Well, since I see that you're not going to let this go, what do you want to do?"

"Neptune, please, let me –"

"Weiss," interrupted Neptune once more. "Just go take care of what you need to take care of. If you wanna get back with him, fine. If you clear you conscience and decide you wanna talk with me again… then come find me. But I know this shit is still on your mind, and it doesn't do any of us any good if you don't resolve it."

He breathed in deeply, internalizing his rampant emotions. "So what's it gonna be?"

Weiss sniffed. It truly hurt her on the inside to see Neptune crumbling before her very eyes, but she knew he was right.

"Okay. Jaune's in the van right now, so eventually he'll go back to where he left his Crown Victoria. He _did _offer to take me back at the bar, after all. Maybe they'll go back sooner rather than later. But I know he'll be there."

"Is that where you wanna go?"

"Yes. Please, Neptune."

* * *

"Hey, Blakey?"

Blake's trance was broken as Nora's voice poked out from behind her.

"Huh? Oh, hey Nora. Hey Pyrrha."

Pyrrha smiled politely. "Hello again!"

Nora gave Blake a strange look. "You okay? You were staring at the door when we got out of the restroom."

"Oh." Blake laughed nervously. "I'm fine. I just… had a moment of clarity, that's all."

"Was the door an alien in disguise trying to tell you where the Casey show is?"

"N-no…? What?"

"Oh, okay." Nora shrugged nonchalantly at Blake's growing confusion, but Pyrrha stepped in.

"You know you can talk to us about anything if you need to, right?" assured the redhead.

"We're just going to skip over the whole alien thing?" Blake scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, I know. It's nothing, I promise…"

_Oh wait._ "… No, hold on, there was something. I know where Yang is!"

Nora and Pyrrha gave a start. "How'd you find out?" wondered Nora.

"I, uh… Sun called me," Blake lied. For some reason, she made the split-second decision to leave Weiss out of the story. "He got my number from Yang, I guess. They're at the pizza place on Luna and Shawcross."

"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Nora grinned. "Let's get going!"

The orange-haired girl bolted full speed out the front door. Pyrrha and Blake shared a glance.

"Sorry about… well, losing her in the first place," Pyrrha murmured, looking towards her feet.

Blake gave her a reassuring smile and put a hand on the redhead's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure it wasn't you fault."

"Well… I mean, I probably should've at least stayed behind to keep an eye on her –"

"Pyrrha," Blake rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. "I think I've had enough with people blaming themselves for things that aren't their fault. So _don't worry about it_, got it?"

The redhead nodded, then subsequently smiled back. "Got it."

"Yo!" They both turned to Nora, who had poked her head back through the door. "You can kiss and make up later, we got shit to do!" she yelled, before zooming back out.

The two shared a knowing laugh, then rushed after her.

Back at the cash register, the old cashier shook his head. "Found 'Yang,' eh? Is that what the kids are calling drugs these days?"

* * *

"Ren."

"Yes, Jaune?"

"… These pancakes are phenomenal."

"I'm saying."

"I mean, holy shit. It's like I'm eating at one of those super-posh gourmet restaurants that Weiss used to drag me to. You guys had the right idea grabbing all these boxes."

"Dude, we've got plenty, so help yourself. They were from that pancake house that Nora always wanted to try. They were pretty cheap, too, so that's always a plus."

"We probably should have listened to her, huh?"

"Maybe just that once."

"Yeah. Just that once."

The side door of the van suddenly slid open, startling Ren and Jaune out of their pancake paradise.

"We found Yang!" announced Nora proudly.

"We'll, actually, it's more like Blake got a call from Sun telling us where to pick them up," added Pyrrha.

Blake chuckled. "It's okay, Pyrrha. I'm just happy that we know where they are."

"Perfect!" mumbled Jaune on a mouthful of pancake. "Where to?"

"The corner of Luna and Shawcross," answered Blake as the girls climbed aboard the van.

"Oh!" exclaimed Ren. "I know where that is. There's a sex shop very close by!"

The van went dead silent.

"Uh…" Jaune was the first to speak up. "Why do you know this?"

"Hey, different strokes for different folks, right? And… I have a Nora."

Nora pouted. "Oh, bull, you're not throwing me under the bus for _that_, you son of a bitch!"

Jaune groaned. "So now your best friend and two strangers know that you frequent at a sex shop. How does that make you feel?"

"Look, man, I don't give a fuck. You want me to tell you what we got from that shop?"

"Okay, seriously… I don't even wanna know. I regret asking," Jaune waved his hands, repulsed.

Blake chuckled, sitting beside him. "You and your big mouth."

"Really?" Jaune gasped in mock hurt. "We've got the ginger and you're calling _me _the loudmouth?"

"You're the one I can hear from back here," the faunus girl smirked.

Jaune glanced pointedly in the general direction of Blake's bow. "I kinda doubt that."

"Selective hearing."

"Ah."

One thing that Jaune realized as they drove off was that instead of sitting opposite of him like she usually would, Blake took her spot right next to him. They were, in fact, sitting completely shoulder to shoulder, neither bothered by the proximity of the other. He even noticed Blake leaning towards him when she spoke, possibly indicating her comfort in his presence.

Jaune smiled thoughtfully at that realization.

He picked up the open to-go box next to him and held it towards Blake. "Pancake?"

The dark-haired girl seemed a bit surprised at the apparently random appearance of pancakes. "I'm not the biggest fan of pancakes."

"Most of the time, they're not my thing either. But I promise, these are _really_ good." The blonde offered a fork with his other hand.

Blake blinked at the food items in front of her when suddenly a growl emitted from her belly.

Jaune laughed at the faunus girl, who grew red in the face. "I guess there's your answer right there."

"Fine," Blake muttered self-consciously, snatching the fork from Jaune's outstretched hand. She proceeded to dig out a piece from the box and stick it gingerly into her open mouth.

After a brief moment of chewing and deliberation, Jaune gave Blake a sideways glance. "Well?"

"… This is absurdly delicious."

"See? What did I say?"

"How does anyone even make a pancake this good!? It's like there's a party going on in my mouth."

"Hey-o!"

Blake elbowed the blonde in the ribs, laughing. "Shut up, Jaune."

"Sorry," said Jaune with a grin. "I had to."

"You didn't _have_ to, per se."

"There was pressure on me to make the joke."

"Literally _no one_ is pressuring to say anything!"

Up by the front, Ren glanced in the rearview mirror and caught a glimpse of Jaune and Blake sharing a box of pancakes and laughing together. "Guess Jaune took that bull-guy incident pretty well."

"Since when did you change your mind about 'not trying to get him with a chick?'" smirked Nora.

"By that logic," piped in Pyrrha, "Technically I'm just 'some chick,' too."

"Nah, your our friend and new drummer, Pyrrha!" protested Nora.

"See what I mean?" countered Ren. "Blake's as much of a friend as Pyrrha is, I'd say."

The redhead gave an inquisitive look. "Not to change the subject, but you guys are fine with me being the drummer? I assumed there might at least be an audition or something of the like."

"Nah, why would we –"

"She's going through an audition," interrupted Ren.

"What!? You're a nonbeliever!"

"I have no doubts that she's a good drummer," remarked Ren. "But the last time we didn't audition a new drummer, our subsequent show went pretty badly."

Nora frowned. "Renny, the only addition to our band we ever made was that drum machine."

"My point exactly."

Pyrrha giggled. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys."

* * *

"Did you hear that?"

Yang blinked at the faunus boy, who had suddenly become alert.

"You forget? I'm only human here."

"Right. Sorry."

Yang pouted. "Well, what is it?"

Sun cupped a hand to his ear. "It… sounds like a car horn. But it's playing some kind of… classical music shit. Like… the Nutcracker… or something."

Yang cocked her head in confusion, but it quietly came into her own hearing as well. The horn grew louder and louder, almost to the point of being obnoxious. Maybe it was her imagination, but it was almost as if she recognized that particular car horn…

And as if on cue, the Juniperberries van unceremoniously appeared out of nowhere and screeched to a halt in front of the pizza parlor, still honking "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy."

"It's them!" cheered Yang, rushing towards the front of the restaurant with Sun following closely behind her.

The front door swung open as Blake and Jaune burst through.

"Yang!"

"Blake!"

The two met in a warm embrace.

"What took you so long, kitty-cat?" joked Yang lightheartedly.

Blake shook her head. "Don't even _try_ to test me right now," she cautioned. "I have spent most of the night looking for your ass and quite frankly I'm still pissed at you."

"C'mon! You have no confidence in me whatsoever," complained Yang as they pulled apart.

"For good reason," snorted the faunus girl. She sniffed suddenly. "What's that smell?"

"Smell?" Jaune inhaled in curiosity – and his eyes widened.

He immediately glanced knowingly at Sun, who stared back, his eyes just as wide.

Yang laughed nervously. "You mean the pizza?"

Blake frowned. "No… it's more like… some sort of musk –"

"I'm sure it's nothing!" blurted Jaune and Sun simultaneously.

The faunus girl looked between the two suspiciously, then turned back to Yang with a sigh. "I'm just… I'm just glad you're safe."

"And I'm sorry," admitted Yang. "I didn't mean to get black-out drunk and cause you all that trouble. I probably ruined your night…" She hung her head, ashamed.

Blake went to hug her best friend again. "It's alright. Just… don't do it again, okay?"

"Hear you loud and clear," said Yang, muffled by Blake's shoulder.

Jaune approached the two. "Let's get going," he said with a smile. "The others are worried about you."

Yang turned to him, almost incredulously. "Really?"

"Yeah. We've been searching for you most of the night, after all. The guys have been beating themselves up pretty hard about losing you, especially Pyrrha."

Yang pondered a moment. "The redhead, right?"

"That's the one."

Yang breathed in, then out. "Wow. All of you guys went on a search-and-rescue for lil' old me?"

"Yep."

Blake gave Yang a comforting smile. "C'mon, you. Let's go say hi to the guys."

"Alright."

They started to walk out before Yang stopped.

"Yang?" asked Blake hesitantly.

"Hold on a moment." Yang looked over her shoulder, towards the remaining occupant in the restaurant. "You coming?"

Sun started. "Me?"

Yang laughed. "Yeah, you." She meandered back towards him. "Who else would I be talking to? The nonexistent restaurant owner?"

Sun chuckled. "Sorry, blondie. I promised Neptune I would meet up with him and Weiss."

"You sure?" Yang grasped the faunus boy's hands, and for once in her rowdy life, she seemed… bashful. "It would be… nice if you… if you came with me. Besides, you gonna wait here by yourself?"

Sun glanced for a moment at their intertwined hands, then gave Yang a sheepish grin. "Yeah. I wish I could come with you, but… a promise is a promise. Maybe next time, Yang."

Yang seemed crestfallen at first, but brightened up almost immediately.

"Well, in that case…" She ran behind the counter of the restaurant and fumbled around for a few seconds before rushing back to Sun.

"Here," grinned Yang as she smacked her hand against the faunus's chest.

"W-what?" Sun seemed startled by Yang's motion, which wasn't surprising considering how many times that had already happened that night.

"You're… you're a cool guy," smiled Yang awkwardly, grabbing Sun's hand and closing it over the object she had given him before sliding her own hand out from underneath. "We should hangout sometime. So, y'know… call me."

With that, she ran back out of the pizza place, where Blake and Jaune were waiting.

Sun watched them walk away briefly before looking at his clenched fist. With a shrug, he opened it.

Resting on his palm was a torn piece of paper with a phone number on it.

Sun read the number. Then again. And again.

He grinned.

"Oh, Yang," he murmured contentedly to himself as he pulled out his phone and began entering her number into his contacts list.

* * *

"AAAAAAAYYY!"

The whole van erupted into cheers as the door slid open to reveal a slightly taken aback Yang.

"D'aaaw, you guys," she grinned, taking the seat next to Pyrrha. "You went looking all over the city for me? You seriously are the sweetest people I know."

"Don't mention it!" exclaimed Nora. "We weren't just gonna leave our new friend Yang out in the cold!"

As Blake and Jaune filed in after her and the van began to drive off, Yang turned to the redhead seated next to her. "Hey… Pyrrha, right?"

Pyrrha smiled politely. "Hello, again!"

Yang smiled back. "I heard you were taking it pretty badly for me going off on my own and all. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for that. I'm sure it wasn't your fault."

"Oh!" Pyrrha seemed surprised. "It's quite alright. It happens to the best of us. I'm just happy that were able to find you again."

The blonde girl nodded. "Seriously though," insisted Yang, addressing the rest of the van as well. "I mean, besides Blake, I barely know you guys, but you are all so fucking awesome for taking the time to come looking for me. So, y'know… thanks."

"No problem at all," intoned Ren. He tossed a phone charger over his shoulder, and Yang caught it handily. "Heard your phone was dead?"

"Hey, thanks!" Yang grinned. "Any cigarette lighters back here?"

"There should be one right next to you."

"Gotcha!" The blonde girl plugged her phone in and within a minute, light from the charging phone illuminated the van. "Ah. Let there be life."

She turned around to face Blake. "So… anything exciting happen while I was gone?"

"Aside from trying to find your drunk ass? Not much," deadpanned the faunus girl. "We…_ thought_ we found Casey."

"'Thought?'" Yang's confusion was apparent.

"Yeah, they tend to do bait-and-switches," added Jaune, who sat next to Blake. "Needless to say… we found the bait."

"Whaaaaaaaaaat?" Yang droned. "That sucks major balls. So what do you guys plan on doing now?"

"We're actually thinking about going home," admitted Nora.

"But isn't there still a show out there?" Yang protested.

Jaune shrugged. "Probably, but we can't figure out for the life of us where it is."

Yang squinted hard. "Damn. Sun probably knew where they were playing. I mean, he's still waiting on Neptune and Weiss, after all, and he _did_ say he was going to the show. Maybe I should've gotten _his _number…"

"Guess that ship sailed," muttered Nora. "Hey Jauney, we dropping you off at your car?"

Jaune nodded. "That would be nice."

He turned to Blake. "You wanna come with me? I've got a treasure trove of CDs you might want to take a look at."

"Really?" Blake perked up at the thought, but she caught herself. "Sorry, I need to take of Yang. Not gonna have her disappear for a second time tonight – actually, it's morning already, isn't it?"

Yang blinked at Blake's fleeting enthusiasm, then grinned slyly. The faunus girl never looked _that_ excited over… over anything, really. "Hey, you're Weiss's Jaune, right?"

"Yang!" Blake chided, but the blonde girl continued.

"No wonder," she snickered. "Kitty-cat's clearly fallen head over heels for you and your obscure music tastes!"

"YANG! What the hell!?" Blake turned as red as a beet, and Jaune had become a stuttering mess beside her.

"W-w-well, we just… uh… that is to say… um…"

"Don't sweat it, buddy!" beamed Yang. "You two are totally cute together! And Blake, I honestly don't mind if you go with him."

"Forgive me if I don't necessarily trust you when you tell me not to worry about you," snarked Blake, still trying to hide her burning face.

"Hey, I'm not drunk right now. I swear. I'm good. Besides, I trust these guys." Yang gestured to Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora.

Pyrrha smiled appreciatively, and Nora chirped, "Damn skippy!"

Blake grumbed. "Fine."

Jaune chuckled at her short response. "You don't _have _to come."

"No, it's alright," smiled Blake softly, growing red again. "I… I'd like it very much."

* * *

When they reached Jaune's car, however, they were greeted with an unwelcome sight.

"Is that… Weiss?" Blake's eyes narrowed.

It was indeed. The girl in white sat primly on the hood of the Crown Victoria, shivering slightly from the cold.

Jaune sighed. "I'll go… see what she wants."

The van door slid open and Jaune walked out to converse with Weiss.

Not for the first time that night, Blake felt her heart sinking. It seemed as if Weiss was going through with the threat that she had given Blake earlier at the convenience store.

And knowing how Jaune felt about the whole situation…

"Can you hear what their talking about?" Nora inquired warily. "This is not good."

"I'm sorry, they're too far." Blake's answer came out almost as a whisper.

They were talking rather quietly as well. No yelling. No arguing. Just talking.

And Weiss's expression seemed… hopeful.

"For once, I agree with Nora," muttered Ren. "This has bad news written all over it."

From a distance, Blake could see Jaune's shoulders beginning to slump, and he slowly started to walk back to the van.

As he got closer, Nora practically yelled, "Don't do it, Jaune, she's fucking crazy!"

Jaune stopped at the door and turned to look Blake straight in the eye.

Blake's heart stopped.

The blonde boy exhaled heavily. "Blake… I'm sorry. I just _have _to know."

He turned to Ren. "You can take them home, right?"

"Jaune. Don't do this," implored Ren.

"I need to, Ren. I just need to. Otherwise I'm never going to stop wondering about where I went wrong." Jaune looked back at Blake pleadingly. "Blake?"

She nodded stonily. "I know. Go on."

Jaune reluctantly nodded.

Then he walked away.

The van door slid shut. "Well… let's go home," murmured Ren. "He's not gonna change his mind."

Yang jumped over her seat and went to hold Blake in a comforting manner, wrapping both her arms around her slumped shoulders.

Pyrrha also came to sit by her. "Blake, I'm so sorry."

"No. It's alright." The faunus girl tried to force a smile, but it came out more like a grimace.

"I'm sure the idiot'll come around," offered Yang, squeezing Blake tighter. "Boys are stupid like that."

Blake appreciatively squeezed back.

The van drove silently through the early morning coldness. Nobody was particularly eager on making small talk of any kind. As a matter of fact, they were all collectively tired and just wanted to go home.

Yang had started to nod off on Blake's shoulder, and the faunus couldn't help but smirk just the tiniest bit at that. Across from her, Pyrrha was twiddling with her thumbs in an inconspicuous and rather awkward manner. And upfront, Nora and Ren remained uncharacteristically silent, obviously still distraught at their best friend's sudden departure.

_Bzzzzt._

Blake frowned.

Pulling out her phone, she realized that someone had texted her.

She opened the text.

_Hey. Sorry bout the casey show shit. I hope we're still cool. Wanna hang? I got something I wanna show ya._

_~ Adam_

Blake stared at the message. Her conscience told her that this was a bad idea.

But it was 1am, and she didn't care anymore. Conscience had gone fuck-all out the window.

Blake started to type.

* * *

**If I can be honest, I hated writing this chapter. I had absolutely no inspiration for writing this, and quite honestly I've gone and rewrote the damn thing a couple times. I feel like I'm using the same ploys and conversations over and over again. But, at least it's over with, because the next chapter gets hectic.**

**Let's be honest here: Jaune does _not_ deserve to get back with Blake at this point, right?**

**Anyways, they should be about done with my truck any second now, so I'll catch you on the flip.**

**Until next time!**


	10. Save Your Scissors

**Hello again!**

**Can't believe we made it ten chapters. Not that I actually knew how long this was gonna last, but... having all you people who keep coming back just makes it that much more special. I humbly bow to you and offer my gratitude, ladies and gentlemen of .**

**This chapter was loads of fun to write. I hope it's as much fun to read. And hey, I didn't forget the lines this time!**

**Song is "Save Your Scissors" by City and Colour, one of my all-time favorite musicians. Highly recommended if you're into alternative folk.  
**

**Beta: Maxaro. Thanks for sticking thick and thin with me, friend.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Save Your Scissors **

* * *

The Crown Victoria lurched through city, which seemed slightly emptier than it was a few hours ago. Inside the car, Jaune drove on silently while Weiss periodically glanced over at him for any sign of acknowledgment, which he did not give.

Jaune chanced a glance at her.

Weiss looked like she had been crying. The air of pride that Weiss usually held herself in was noticeably absent, and she looked like she wanted to say something, but stopped herself every time she opened her mouth.

Jaune sighed. Might as well get it over with.

"So you wanted to talk?"

Weiss jumped at the sound of his voice, then turned to face him. "I… yeah. Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

The white-haired girl nodded at the short response, not trusting herself to say anything more.

About ten minutes later they found themselves in a small yet lush public park bordering one of the narrow inlets that cut through the city of Vale. The moon reflected quite brightly off of the water and almost illuminated the whole park, its greenery swaying with the breeze.

Jaune parked the car in front of said inlet.

They sat in silence, admiring the natural beauty of the pristine space of land. It was indeed a sight to behold, and like many things in life, any photographs of the sight simply did not do it justice.

"Do you remember what this place is?" murmured Jaune.

"Yeah…" Weiss's voice came out barely louder than a whisper. "This is where you asked me out."

"Yup. I figured that no matter how our whole relationship ends up, it would probably helpful to go back to the beginning."

"R-right."

"So… you wanna go first?"

Weiss gave him a crooked smile. "No. You should go. You've been trying to get my attention for the last few weeks, and I was stupid and selfish to not give you that chance. So you deserve to speak your mind."

Jaune nodded thoughtfully. "That's fair."

With a sigh, he began. "When you broke up with me, for the longest time I blamed myself for the whole thing. I thought, I must have done something so terrible that you just had enough of me. And I beat myself up on that thought for almost a whole month. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, because I had no idea what I had done, but it was enough to turn my life upside down without a second's notice. It wasn't until tonight that I figured, maybe I had some fault in the situation, but you breaking off all contact with me was pretty shitty."

The blonde shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I just wanted to know where we went wrong. You kinda left me out of the blue, and although I can guess why you did, you never gave me the chance to fix that. I would've been willing to fix anything that wasn't working between us, but you didn't even tell me a damn word about it. And that fucked me up, you know that?"

Jaune's bitterness began to leak through in his voice, and Weiss's eyes widened at the change in his inflection.

"Yes. I did."

"Then why did you never answer my calls?"

Weiss winced, but collected herself as best she could. "Because I was selfish. I wanted you more to myself even though you loved that band, and when I realized that it would never turn out the way I wanted it to… I ditched you and starting seeing Neptune to spite you."

She dabbed at her eyes as they started to well up again. "And for some reason I thought that you would realize that maybe I was worth something more and that you'd come back to me and that I'd welcome you back in open arms… but I ended up hurting you more than I ever wanted to, and somewhere along the way I guess I… I kind of fell for Neptune, too. Jaune, I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"And yet it did." Jaune looked at her sadly. "What did you think would happen?"

Weiss sniffed. "I… I really don't know, Jaune."

A moment of uncomfortable silence passed between the two.

"Do you… do you think there's any possibility of fixing all that now?" Weiss asked timidly.

Jaune sighed. "What about Neptune? You just gonna leave him like you did me?"

"N-no! Not like that…"

"Then like what?" Jaune's tone was accusing.

Weiss took a deep breath. "When I started seeing Neptune, I kept thinking to myself that I just wasn't ready to talk to you again, especially not when I pulled a move like that on you. But then you just… appeared when I was least expecting you to. I knew I had to say something to you at that bar, but when I came up to you, I just… I didn't know what to say."

She swallowed, her throat having become dry. "And so we left, and I had a lot of time to think really hard about this. I knew that I really liked Neptune, but you and I still had unfinished business and things that we needed to resolve. I knew that I still loved you, but more than anything else, I wanted to tell you that I was sorry. For everything that I put you through. So I had Neptune drop me off at your car, in hopes that we could be talking… like we are now."

The tears started to roll down Weiss's eyes again, and she quickly moved her hand to intercept them.

"I know that it's probably for the best that we are no longer together. After all, I can't stop you from loving that band of yours, not to mention… that _she's_ the one you want."

Jaune narrowed his eyes. "'She?'"

"The faunus girl, Blake," Weiss stated simply, perhaps with a pang of jealousy. "You like her, don't you?"

The blonde remained silent.

"I can see her wearing your jacket. You never gave me that jacket."

Jaune couldn't help but smirk. "You always brought along the thickest, poshest jackets. I don't think there was any way you'd be caught dead in my jacket."

"Yeah." She weakly returned the smile. "Anyway, I know that you're probably… moving on, which I get, seeing how shitty I've been to you. I… I just don't know what to do, but all that I want is for _us_ to be… okay. I know that seems selfish, but I still don't want things between us to end badly."

Jaune leaned back in his chair, thinking quietly to himself.

"Do you… do you like Neptune?"

Weiss hesitated, then gave a slight nod. "No matter what I put him through, he seemed like he was always there for me. And, call me crazy, but… I _do_ want to reciprocate that, even if I never planned on doing so…"

Jaune nodded thoughtfully. "You should give him a chance. You deserve to give someone a chance, if not me. Just… it takes two to make a relationship work. You gotta communicate with him, okay."

"Okay." The white-haired girl nodded again. "And you and me… we're okay?"

"It still hurts, to be honest," Jaune admitted. "What you did and all. But that's in the past now. Right now… I don't know. But I think we'll get better. If not now, then eventually."

He leaned towards Weiss with a sad smile. "I still love you. I really do. But… I think we were just meant for other people. So if Neptune makes you happy, then I want you to go be happy with him."

Weiss looked away for a moment, as if trying to come to terms with his words, before coming in to wrap her arms around Jaune in a genuine embrace. "And if you want to be with Blake… I think you should. I've never gotten along with her, but I'm trying to… look past that now… and I think she really deserves someone as caring as you."

They held each other tight, almost reliving everything that they had once been, before pulling apart.

"So," murmured Weiss expectantly. "What do we do now?"

* * *

"Blake, this is a fucking stupid idea."

"I know, Yang."

"Then _WHY_ are you doing it!?"

"Because I feel like doing something fucking stupid, if you can believe that."

Nora poked a head out nervously as Blake stepped out of the van. "You sure you don't want us to take you home? It's honestly no problem at all."

Blake turned to her impassively. "No. Thanks, Nora."

No one was convinced.

Yang growled angrily at her friend. "Don't do this, Blake. That asshat is fucking poison for you, and you know that! Y'know who you should be with? You should be with Jaune! For all we know, that lovable idiot is coming to his senses right now and –"

"Yang, he's out with his ex, who he's been pining for before I even got to know him!" Blake replied bitterly. "He wants this, so I'm not keeping my hopes up."

"Well, I mean, at least we finally got her to admit that she likes him," muttered Nora under her breath.

"Why Adam, though?" Yang was pleading at this point. "The dickhead's treated you like shit, and you wanna go back to that? Please, Blake… I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

The faunus girl sighed. She couldn't stay mad. Not at Yang.

"Just think of it like me taking your place for the rest of the night," she joked weakly. "Just… not drunk. Don't worry about me Yang. I'll be fine."

The blonde girl leaned out the van and hugged Blake. "As your best friend, I still think this is a stupid idea, but I know you're not changing your mind." She planted a kiss on the top of Blake's head. "Just… be safe, okay?"

Blake smiled slightly. "You know, the loving mother archetype actually suits you pretty well, surprisingly."

Yang grinned. "Well, I _do_ have a little sister going through college, after all. And… I think I met someone tonight who actually made me feel like settling down, for once."

Blake nodded before slowly and wordlessly slipping away.

As she heard the van drive off, she shivered slightly against the cold and made her trek up a few blocks to the club that Adam had given her directions to. The second-thoughts started to fill her head, but she stubbornly repressed them.

She reached the rather gaudy looking club entrance shortly afterward. Despite how late it was, the line to get in still looked moderately long, and its occupants seemed much rowdier and more irritable than those Blake had seen at Junior's.

It was like looking at a line full of drunk Yangs.

Blake made a beeline towards the bouncer, who towered menacingly over her.

"Hey," greeted Blake. "I'm here to meet someone. A guy named Adam?"

"Blake!"

The bull-man drunkenly stumbled out the front door, a big, stupid grin plastered across his face. "There you are, come on in!"

He made a move to kiss her, but Blake shoved him off, almost recoiling at how much stronger Adam reeked of booze than before. The bull-man frowned momentarily before grinning once more and dragged her by the hand into the club. The bouncer rolled his eyes while the rest of the line resounded in outrage.

Immediately as they entered the club, Blake felt an overwhelming sense of claustrophobia wash over her. The clubbers obviously had no sense of time and were still partying as if it were the prime of the night. Drinks flowed like waterfalls, and numerous acts of passion and indecency sprouted amongst the crowd, poorly hidden by those engaged in the act.

"Who's jacket is that, anyway?" murmured Adam.

"Jacket?" Blake had forgotten once more that she was wearing Jaune's jacket. "It's just… a friend's."

"It's pretty fucking ugly, that's what it is."

"Well, it does the job," she replied darkly.

Adam led Blake to a darker part of the club, where several thuggish-looking people lounged around a small table crowded with empty glasses.

"What's up, boys?" slurred the bull-man. "This is my girl, Blake. She's our guest of honor."

They nodded at Blake, who nodded back.

Adam licked his lips. "Since my girl's here tonight, we need to start off with some celebratory shots. Somebody bring out the shots so we can toast!"

"It's fine, Adam," Blake pretended to laugh. "I'm not going to drink, if that's fine."

"Nah, baby girl, I insist!"

Blake cringed at the pet name. "Please… I really don't want to drink."

"Too bad," Adam grinned.

The shots had appeared and the bull-man sloppily grabbed one from off the table, handing it to Blake. "Just a little vodka, baby. It'll be fun!"

Blake stared at the drink.

It seemed to fizz unnaturally.

Blake blinked.

"Uh, Adam, I –"

"A toast!" roared the bull-man. "To my lovely lady, who graces us with her presence tonight!"

A resounding "Cheers!" broke out amongst the crew, and they downed their shots easily.

Thinking fast, Blake mimed taking the shot while angling herself and the shot glass in a way that allowed the contents to spill over her shoulder. No one else knew the better; they were all too wasted to pay attention, anyhow.

Adam turned to Blake. "So… I've been meaning to ask you. You know I make some pretty dope music, right?"

"… Sure." Blake attempted to move away as he leaned in closer.

"And I know you know some people."

"Kinda hard _not_ to know people, as much as I'd love that."

"I was wondering… you think you could get me a record deal form old Ozzy?"

Blake narrowed her eyes.

Was that all he brought here for? To get a record deal?

Adam grinned. "If you're not convinced, y'know the music playing right now in this club? That's all mine baby. I pulled a couple string to get them to play my tracks."

Blake half-listened, but her mind was racing a mile a minute

"So what do you say?" slurred the bull-man.

"I'll… I'll see what I can do," mumbled Blake vaguely.

"You're the fucking best, baby girl." Adam grabbed Blake in her daze and sloppily connected his lips with hers.

For a moment, Blake played with the idea of letting Adam do whatever he wanted. Maybe she'd regret it in the morning, but she desperately wanted something to fill the void that Jaune had left behind.

_Jaune…_

Blake felt Adam's hands sliding roughly over her body. She felt his own body press up to hers, feeling his every shift as he continued to kiss her. One hand moved sporadically across her back, while the other reached slid down to grab her ass.

_All he wanted… was a record deal and a bootycall… he doesn't give a shit about me…_

And suddenly, Blake's daze was broken.

She pushed the bull-man away from her and wrapped her arms around herself.

Adam seemed surprised, but the lust quickly rushed back into his face as he advanced towards Blake.

She shoved him once more. "I need to go to the bathroom," she murmured.

Adam grinned slyly. "We going together, baby girl?"

"No."

"Huh." Adam shrugged. "Well, then I'll be waiting for you. Don't leave me hanging."

Blake nodded and walked briskly away from the table, wanting to just be gone from this wretched place.

She paused as she reached the door for a second, then made her way towards the table's waitress.

"Hey, can I see the bill for our table?"

"Sure thing!" The waitress pulled up a fairly long tab.

"Hmm." Blake gave it a quick glance. "I think you got it wrong. Why don't you double the price?"

The waitress blinked. "A-are you sure?"

The faunus girl winked at her. "Actually, I'm not. Triple it, why don't you? And if they ask, just tell them that it's a treat from Blake."

* * *

There was a tea shop about five blocks west of the club, which Blake ended up wandering into.

_Apparently everything stays open late on Saturday nights,_ she thought to herself as she sipped the freshly brewed hot chocolate in her hands. Granted, it would usually be tea instead of something as rich and creamy as hot chocolate, but given what she just walked out of, she decided that it was the perfect time to treat herself.

Although now that all that bullshit was out of the way, a different concern arose in its place.

How the hell was she going to get home?

She thought about calling Yang, but it seemed inconsiderate to make the van drive all the way back just to accommodate her. A taxi or Uber seemed like a good idea, but that meant having to deal with _people_.

Blake sighed. For now, the hot chocolate presented a more enticing concern to be tended to.

She almost spilled the mug's contents when her phone rang.

Blake pulled out her phone and examined the caller ID.

She didn't recognize that number.

Frowning, Blake answered the phone.

"Hello."

"_Hi… is Blake there?"_

The voice, however… the voice she recognized.

"Speaking."

"_Right… uh, hey Blake."_

Blake couldn't help but chuckle. "Hi."

"_Hi! Hehe… I just wanted to call you and tell you about this guy. His name's Jaune."_

"Go on."

"_Well… he's a fucking idiot, for one."_

"I'll say," Blake laughed.

"_Dammit Blake, you're ruining my monologue."_

"Sorry. Continue."

"_Okay, well, you know he's kind of an idiot, because he's been chasing some other girl around for the longest time trying to make things up to her when… well, when the right girl's been right in front of him all this time. And he knows that he definitely doesn't deserve a second chance with you, but he still wanted to say sorry."_

"Apology accepted," replied Blake, a smile playing on her lips.

"_That's… that's great! Um… what are you doing right now?"_

"I'm drinking hot chocolate at Fresh Pots on Newville Lane."

"_Can I… can Jaune come join you?"_

Blake giggled. "Absolutely." After a brief pause, "How did you get this number, Jaune?"

"_Shhhhh! You're not supposed to know it's me!"_

Blake snorted. "My bad. Friend of Jaune, how did you get this number?"

"_Well, y'know… he called Ren up to see if he could talk to you, but Ren said you were gone and then Yang gave Jaune your number. She told him to call you ASAP, for some reason."_

"Good ol' Yang," smiled Blake.

"_So… I guess... I'll meet you in a few?"_

"Sounds rad."

"_Hey! You making fun of me?"_

"Whatever could you possibly be talking about?"

She heard him laugh. _"See you in a bit, Blake."_

"Bye, Jaune."

Despite the chilly weather, Blake felt a warmth that even hot chocolate could not provide.

* * *

**And that's chapter 10!**

**...**

**I feel like I'm missing something. I mean, Maxaro gave me some pretty great editor's notes on this one. I feel like I could've done something with them...**

**Hold on a moment.**

* * *

**CH10 ALT ENDING: In Which Maxaro Breaks the AU (feat. Maxaro, obviously)**

* * *

The blonde girl leaned out the van and hugged Blake. "As your best friend, I still think this is a stupid idea, but I know you're not changing your mind." She planted a kiss on the top of Blake's head. "Just… be safe, okay?"

Blake smiled slightly. "You know, the loving mother archetype actually suits you pretty well, surprisingly."

Yang grinned. "Well, I do have a little sister going through college, after all. And… I think I met someone tonight who actually made me feel like settling down, for once."

Blake nodded before slowly and wordlessly-

_GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSHHH_

Blake turned to see where the strange noise was coming from, and her eyes widened in absolute terror as a torrent of water promptly filled her line of sight.

"WAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGHH!" she half-screamed, half-gurgled as the stream hit her smack in the face and pushed her back into the side of the van.

After a few seconds of sheer panic, the water stream ceased, revealing an unfamiliar man in a firefighting suit holding the end of a water hose.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" roared Blake. "What was that for, and who the fuck are you?"

The man remained steadfast. "Get back in the van."

"W-what?"

"Did I stutter?" The man slung the hose over his shoulder. "Where the hell do you think you were going? You're about to do something real stupid, and I'm not gonna allow it."

Blake regained some of her confidence, which was still diminished due to the frigidness of the water beginning to soak into her clothers. "L-look h-h-here, you don't t-tell me what to d-d-do -"

"On the count of three, I'm gonna turn this hose back on."

"Okay! B-back in t-the van it is!" Blake yanked the van door open and scrambled back inside as fast as she could, slamming the door with a resounding _thud_.

Watching the van speed off, the man shrugged. "Only one thing left to do."

* * *

Neptune sat in his car, trying to process the events of the night. After letting Weiss go, he had found an empty parking lot to sit and make sense of the thoughts running wild in his head.

_Knock knock._

Neptune jumped and glanced at the driver side window to see a man in a firefighter suit motioning for him to roll his window down.

Reluctantly and confusedly, the blue-haired boy complied.

No sooner had he done that when the man drew a lemon from seemingly out of nowhere and squeezed it in Neptune's eyes.

"AAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH! What the hell, man!?" Neptune screamed as his hands clawed at the burning sensation.

The man grabbed Neptune by the collar and yanked him up until their faces were inches away from each other.

"You're a terribly-written character," uttered the man.

With that, he ran off into the night, leaving Neptune to deal with his own agony.

* * *

**Uh... that was bizarre. And before you ask, no, I can't explain.**

**The worst is over now. I think it's safe to say that the Dark Knight ship is gonna sail pretty smoothly from here on out. Some of that fun will be addressed in the next chapter.**

**Oh, and just a random sidenote, the fizzing in Blake's shot is exactly what you think it is. Please be careful when you're out drinking.**

**Reviews are always welcome.**

**Until next time!**


	11. Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop

**Hello one and all!**

**I come bearing gifts! And by gifts, I mean a chapter. And by a chapter, I mean some damn well deserved Dark Knight fluff. It's a very vanilla chapter, and I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did.**

**So many easter eggs, this one. Shoutouts to all those mentioned!**

**This chapter's song is "Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop" by Landon Pigg. An oldie but a goodie.**

**Beta: Maxaro, as always.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 11: Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop**

* * *

Jaune parked the Crown Victoria by the curbside and exited the vehicle, hastily donning a coat and scarf to brace the icy weather, which had somehow gotten even colder, if you could believe that. Leaving a trail of visible breath, he walked in a brisk pace towards the quaint-looking tea shop and opened its door, which chimed in response.

The lone barista looked up and gave Jaune a friendly smile, still somewhat woozy due to the fact that it was almost 2 in the morning and there were unsurprisingly very few people actually in the shop. The blonde smiled back politely and walked over to a table in the far corner, which was currently occupied by a very pretty dark-haired girl with a bow.

The girl looked up from her mug and gave Jaune a warm smile as he sat in the seat opposite her.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Blake snickered. "You certainly know how to make an entrance."

Jaune shrugged sheepishly. "Well, what can I say? I kinda left the nicest girl I ever met hanging, so right about now I don't think I qualify for the title of 'someone who knows what he's doing.'"

"You're fine," Blake laughed. "I've been pretty much improvising this entire night, and it's been a fucking nightmare, so don't worry about it."

The blonde smiled knowingly. It had definitely been one hell of a night.

"Another order of hot chocolate, ma'am?"

The two looked up to see the barista from up front setting down a steaming hot cup on the table.

"Thank you," smiled Blake graciously, turning to Jaune. "I got that one for you."

"Aw, you shouldn't have!"

"Well I did, so you should probably drink it before it gets cold," smirked Blake.

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Fair point." He proceeded to take a sip of the rich, chocolaty drink, wary of burning his tongue.

"Oh, don't be a baby," snarked Blake, watching him with amusement in her eyes.

"Hey, you can never be too careful when it comes to hot drinks. Trust me, I'm friends with Nora."

"Ah." Blake grimaced at the thought of Nora handling hot liquids of any kind. "Yeah, I can see how that could end badly."

Jaune grinned, setting the mug down. "Hey Blake?"

"Yes?"

"I like that jacket."

Blake looked down at the jacket. For the hundredth time that night, she had forgotten she was wearing it. "Thanks Jaune. You want it back."

The blonde scrutinized her for a second. "Nah. You should keep it. It looks better on you, I think."

The faunus girl blushed. "You flatter me."

"Wouldn't say it if it wasn't true," replied Jaune, winking at her. "I _do_ have to ask. How did you end up here? I thought Ren was taking you and Yang home."

Blake shifted uncomfortably. "It's… a long story."

"Don't wanna talk about it?"

"Well… I almost made a really huge mistake." Her eyes darted towards the ground.

Jaune smiled. "Can't be much worse than what I did."

"Stop it, Jaune," Blake laughed in return. "What did I say about blaming yourself?"

"This one's actually my fault though."

"And I forgave you for it, so end of story." Blake's tone was light, but firm.

The blonde sighed. "Alright. You won't hear me talking about that anymore."

"Good." The faunus girl's expression grew shy as an idea popped into her head. "Hey… you wanna do something after this?"

Jaune sipped his hot chocolate. "It's 2 in the morning. What could you possibly have in mind?"

"Oh…" Blake gave him a sly grin. "I might have a few ideas."

* * *

"Jesus, Jaune, your taste in music is impeccable."

Jaune grinned as he continued to drive based off of the directions that Blake gave him. "It's certainly one of my few redeeming qualities, for sure."

"Oh hush, you," Blake laughed, nudging the blonde in his side before continuing to rifle through his massive collection of CDs. "You've got all the Casey albums, they're all absolutely fantastic. Holy shit, L. Mar Hall!? Yang got me into him. She'd probably love to borrow this album…"

The blonde watched his passenger from out of the corner of his eye as her excitement grew tenfold with every album she recognized, which, at this point, was all of them.

"I didn't picture you to be the excited type of person, to be perfectly honest," commented Jaune with a grin. "It's kinda cute."

"Only Yang's ever seen this side of me," admitted Blake. "And thanks… I think?"

She suddenly elicited a gasp. "Oh. My. God. The Branwen Twins? You're the only other person I know who's even heard of them! They're _so_ good. Hold on, I have to play this." She popped the disc into the Crown Victoria's CD player, and almost immediately, the car's stereo began pumping out light, airy synthpop rhythms over a rattling bass.

"Ah…" Blake slid down the passenger's seat in pure ecstasy. She turned the volume down just a little bit. "How do you have so much good music?"

Jaune flashed a smile. "Some of it comes with being in a band, and some of it comes from going to a lot of music festivals. One of my favorite memories ever is the time Ren, Nora, and I got tickets to Mistralpalooza about three years ago."

"You went to Mistralpalooza?" Blake's eyes widened. "Color me jealous. I've always wanted to go."

"Oh, it was by far one of the coolest things I've ever done. The lineup was phenomenal – The Branwen Twins were there. There was also L. Mar Hall, Reclaimer, Destiny's Tail, Elf Corroborator, Auburner, The Freelancer Project, Ensign-J …"

Jaune grinned. "Funny thing is, that jacket you're wearing is an Ensign-J jacket that their lead singer threw into the crowd. It's always been too small for me, so lucky that you came around."

Blake froze and examined the jacket even closer than before, and sure enough, there was the little triangle on the right breast of the jacket with the words "Ensign-J" stitched underneath it.

"You have no idea how much I love Ensign-J. I'm going to wear this jacket forever now." Blake sighed. "I'm still pretty envious of you for going to Mistralpalooza. That festival is near the top of my bucket list."

"I can take you, if you'd like," offered Jaune.

"… Would you really?"

"Oh absolutely. We've been meaning to go again this year, the lineup's supposed to be pretty good. Kuma, Darkworld, Jian Bing, Das Openhaus, and T.O.B. are headlining this year."

Blake shivered in excitement. "I'd love to hear from you if you decide to go. If I got to see any of those bands live, I think I would melt."

Jaune chuckled at her enthusiasm. "I'll let you know. Maybe you could bring Yang along." He suddenly shuddered. "I'm not looking forward to that airship ride, though."

"Why's that?"

"I get airsick pretty easily."

"Ugh." Blake cringed. "How'd you manage the last time?"

"Messily," answered Jaune crossly.

"Ah. Well at least now you know, right?" the faunus girl offered hopefully.

"I try my best to forget it."

"Right… Oh hey, we're here!"

Jaune frowned as he pulled up next to the inconspicuous-looking building. It had a single window and no lights to brighten its already drab exterior.

"Blake… what is this place?" inquired the blonde suspiciously as they walked up to the single steel door, complete with both a deadbolt and an electronic PIN lock. "It looks like a strip club."

"What!? No, it does _not_ look like a… I guess it _kind of_ looks like a strip club… but I promise you it isn't!" Blake waved her hands frantically.

Jaune lifted an eyebrow. "Okay, then what is it?"

"Oh, you'll like this," Blake grinned, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

She pulled out a key ring and unlocked the deadbolt before typing in a six-digit code into the electronic lock. It beeped happily, and with a wink at Jaune, Blake pushed the door open.

At the slightest movement, the lights inside the building flickered on immediately, revealing a long hallway with various guitars and awards hanging from the walls. A very museum-like vibe radiated from the mahogany walls and dim lighting, and the carpet flooring served to keep the hallway very quiet and muffled.

Jaune whistled. "With all these guitars I can see why you've got all those locks on the door."

"This isn't even the best part," Blake smirked, taking Jaune's hand and leading him towards a darkened sign at the very back of the hallway. The sign had a singular lightbulb hanging over it, which remained off despite the rest of the lights turning on. Blake pulled a switch next to the sign, which activated the light, illuminating the fading, hand-painted words on the sign.

The blonde squinted.

"_Ozpin Studios… _no."

Blake watched in glee as Jaune's jaw hit the ground.

"No way… THE Ozpin Studios!? I'm standing in Ozpin Studios… right now. Holy fuck. This is unreal. _Ozpin Studios_!?" Jaune mumbled incoherently.

"The one and only," beamed the faunus girl.

Jaune turned to her. "_How_?"

Blake smirked sheepishly. "I… used to work here."

The blonde eyes grew even wider. "You? Worked here? With the great and powerful Ozpin? I mean, you met him, right?"

"Of course! He was the one that hired me," Blake leaned back contently, reminiscing. "I really did enjoy working with him. Hell, I even helped him produce some pretty big name bands. And I guess he liked having me around. I mean, he did give me an extra set of keys when I quit in case I ever wanted to come mess around… It was awfully nice of him."

Jaune's expression grew slightly somber. "So what made you quit? I can't imagine anyone wanting leave a job like this."

Blake gave him a sad smile. "I was still friends with Adam when I worked here. When he found out… he just kept asking me to strike a record deal with Ozpin, even after we rejected him for God knows how many times."

She sighed. "Not only that, he decided it would be fantastic to tell basically everyone he knew, and from then on I just became known as 'the music studio girl.' Nobody ever came to talk to me about anything except getting a record deal."

"That's pretty shitty… you quit an awesome job like this because one guy fucked you over?" Jaune scowled.

Blake nodded. "Pretty much. But enough about my past." Her expression brightened once more. "You wanna see where the magic happens?"

She opened the door directly to the left of the sign, and Jaune inhaled deeply at the magnificent sight that lay before him.

An absurdly immense mixing console filled up most of the first room, which also served as a base for a multitrack recorder, a large monitor, and a few studio speakers. To the side laid some analog equipment; opposite of the console rested a plethora of synthesizers, keyboards, amplifiers, and guitars. Directly above the console, a glass wall provided a grand view of an isolation booth filled with soundproofing foam. Designated for acoustic recording, the room was peppered with various microphones, acoustic guitars, and a drum kit.

Jaune wiped the drool from his mouth (which he was admittedly unaware of until just now) and walked slowly towards the console, as if in a trance.

"This… is beautiful," breathed Jaune. He explored about the room a few times, before gesturing grandly to the room itself. "It's all beautiful!"

Propped up against the doorway, Blake couldn't help but giggle as the grown man delightedly bounced around the room like an excited puppy that had just happened upon a full box of brand new squeaky toys.

"Holy shit, look at this stuff!" Jaune picked up a bass and started to riff. "I am in paradise right now, Blake."

The faunus girl laughed. "We should record something. I always get a blast out of using the console. Get in the booth!"

Jaune grinned excitedly and, after setting down the bass, practically sprinted through the soundproof door to the second room.

Blake flipped the console on and plugged in a desk mic. She watched through the glass as Jaune found a pair of headphones comfortable enough to wear.

As soon as he found a decent pair, Blake grinned and whispered slyly into her mic. "Hey Jaune."

The blonde boy jumped in surprise at the disembodied voice. "Uh… can you hear me?"

"Yup. There's a ceiling mic right in front of you."

"Whoa… That is _so_ weird. It's like you're in my head."

Blake snickered. "What do you mean? I've always been here. It's cozy in your head," she joked.

Jaune laughed. "Well, you're gonna need to pay rent at some point or another."

"Then can you fix the leaky ceiling?"

"Very funny." Jaune snorted. "So… what did you want to record?"

"Whatever you like. There's some acoustic guitars behind you, if you want to use one."

The blonde nodded and picked up the nearest guitar. He gave it a few test strums before deciding it was to his liking. "Y'know, I've never really done much songwriting in my band… but there's this song that I've been meaning to pitch to Nora for some time now."

Blake smiled at him. "Let's do that one, then. Ready whenever you are." She pressed the "record" button.

Jaune smiled back. He walked up to overhead mic, took a deep breath, and started to play a steady, quarter-note rhythm.

The riff continued uncertainly for a brief moment before growing in confidence, and before too long, Jaune began to sing in a soft, airy voice.

"_Fuel the helo,_

_Check the rotor,_

_And I believe in you._

_And I believe in you._

_Can you hear me?_

_Lima, Charlie!_

_And I believe in you._

_And I believe in you…"_

Blake followed along intently as Jaune crooned the rest of the upbeat, almost nostalgia-inducing song. He finished the recording with a playful flourish of the guitar strings, looking at the faunus girl expectantly.

Blake took a moment to shrug off the chills that ran up her spine before ending the recording.

"That… that was beautiful, Jaune," she murmured quietly. "You should sing more often. Your voice is lovely."

The blonde blushed and scratched the back of his head. "Ah… well, thanks."

The faunus girl smiled.

A familiar warm feeling bubbled within her chest. A happiness of sorts. Not the kind you get from discovering new artists to listen to. Not the kind you get when you open birthday gifts.

Rather, it was the kind of feeling when someone who is as every bit as enthralled with you as you are with them leads you out to the dance floor and makes you forget that real life is still happening around you.

It was this feeling that made Blake do something bolder than she had ever done in her life.

"Jaune."

"Yeah?"

"… I'm coming in."

She walked slowly over to the booth and pulled the door open.

Their eyes met, and they both exchanged coy smiles.

Blake strode gradually and deliberately over to where Jaune stood. The boy pulled off his headphones and set the guitar aside.

Soon only inches separated them.

"Hey," laughed Blake.

"Hey," Jaune laughed back.

They held eye contact for a moment longer.

And, with nothing left to be said, Blake reached up and kissed him.

He kissed back, firmly but gently.

When they finally pulled apart, they laughed again, half in nervousness and half in bridled excitement.

Jaune moved in to hold her, his arms wrapping around her back. "Twelve hours ago, I would've laughed at anyone who told me I was going to meet the most amazing girl I've ever known."

Blake smiled and embraced back, her face pressed against his shoulder. "Same here. It's funny how these things work out."

"True that." Jaune reached a hand up and paused just short of her bow. "May I?"

Blake hesitated.

It was a very intimate motion to her, and she'd only ever let one other person do it. Someone she'd much rather forget.

But this was Jaune.

"Sure."

She watched as the blonde unraveled the ribbon which hid her secret and gently placed it in her pocket. He reached his hand up once more and began to caress the soft cat ears.

"Ah…" she purred. "Your hands… they're so warm."

Jaune smiled. "So are your ears."

"They _are_ covered all the time. It gets awfully stuffy." Blake leaned into him. "I'm so glad I met you tonight."

"And I'm glad that I met you, too."

The faunus girl gave him a peck on the cheek.

"C'mon," she smiled, leading him to the single couch in the very back.

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "You're comfortable with this?"

"Yes," she nodded. "If it was going to be anyone, I'm more that happy that it was you."

With a smile, he kissed her. In their bliss, she pulled him down upon her.

The sounds of their love could be heard echoing out of the speakers in the next room.

* * *

**Well, ain't that sweet.**

**The song that Jaune plays is Tracadero's "Bolt." Actually one of my favorite Tracadero songs to date.**

**We've reached the tail end of this fun adventure of ours. There's only one chapter left, and as sad as I am that it's drawing to a close, I'm happy to be moving on to bigger and better projects. More importantly, I am so fucking thankful for every single one of you guys who have decided to give this fic a read. I never thought it would get this big, but you guys have pushed it there, so from the bottom of my heart: thank you so much.**

**The story will continue in bits and pieces in Tales of the Music AU, so if you're yearning for more, stick around for that series.**

**I'm also proud to announce that Ten Little Hunters will be returning on March 10th! If you're interested, please read the latest update for pertinent information regarding voting and rules, especially since all the polls have been reset. If you haven't heard of it, still read the latest update first, but give the fic a spin!**

**With that, I'm going to turn for today, happy and accomplished.**

**Until next time, you lovely, lovely people!**


	12. No Other Plans

**Hello everyone!**

**At long last, we've reached the (arguably) thrilling conclusion in our story. There's not much for me to say here except that this is probably one of my favorite chapters I've written in a while.**

**This chapter's song is "No Other Plans" by Sunny Levine. It... may or may not be related to another fic that I'm currently working on.**

**Beta: Maxaro. We did it!**

**Without further ado, I present the last chapter of Blake and Jaune's Infinite Playlist. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 12: No Other Plans**

* * *

"_Seems like Casey and the Red Roses have once again done the bait-and-switch with the public! That's too bad, because they're still out there waiting to play a show for anyone who shows up. Are you gonna be there or are you gonna be square?"_

Nora sighed as she listened to the smug DJs on Beacon Radio. It was infuriating to hear them still babbling about Casey, especially since the van had given up on trying to find them at this point.

"Do you think we should still go after Casey?" wondered Nora aloud. "I mean… they're still playing a show, aren't they?"

"Yeah, but we still have no idea where in the world they could be," noted Ren. "Besides, it's 3 in the morning, and we still need to get Yang home."

"You guys, I'm fine," assured the blonde girl. Even _her_ uninhibited enthusiasm had taken a hit for the night. "If you guys wanna look for Casey, I'm okay with that. I still kinda want to see them too, y'know."

"I don't know," added Pyrrha. "It _is_ kind of late."

"Maybe we should just go home," admitted Nora. "We'll always get another chance to find Casey. If not tonight, I'd like to think they'll play again sometime in the future –"

_Brrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!_

Yang started.

"Hold on," she murmured. "I think that's my phone."

She pulled it out and stared at the caller ID.

It was not a number she recognized.

"Huh," she murmured before answering the phone.

"_Yang?"_

The blonde frowned. "Who is this?"

"_Aw, c'mon! You don't remember me? Even after we met tonight?" _The male voice sounded offended. _"You wound me, Yang, you really do."_

Yang's eyes widened in realization, and she felt her cheeks beginning to burn as well. "Sun! H-hey, what's up?"

"_Oh, y'know, not too much. It's kinda quiet without having a fucking firecracker like you around, to be honest." _A pause. _"Didn't you say you were going to the Casey show?"_

Yang gave a sigh of immense proportions. "Yeah… we totally were… until we found out that it was the wrong location."

"… _The wrong location. Right. Well, we're at the show right now. You guys should hurry up if you wanna get here in time."_

"Wait, wait!" Yang almost panicked. "Where are you guys? Where's the venue at?"

"_Oh, shit, you're fucking serious?" _ The monkey faunus whistled at Yang's silence. _"Damn… you really don't know where it is. Okay. 2210 Alaran Dr. That should be the address you're looking for."_

"2210 Alaran Dr... You sure it's there?"

"_Of course I'm sure. I'm right here… right now." _Yang heard the monkey faunus pause again. _"Uh… you gonna be there?"_

"Yeah… y-yeah, I'll be there."

"_Fucking rad! I'll… uh, I'll see you there, then?"_

"Yeah… see you in a bit, Sun."

"_See ya!"_

Yang heard the phone click.

"GUYS!" she yelled.

Ren almost slammed on the van's breaks at Yang's outburst. "What?"

A look of glee washed over the blonde's face. "I know where the Casey show is! Sun just called me!"

Nora spun around, almost inflicting whiplash on herself in the process. "WHERE?"

"2210 Alaran Dr. We need to get there ASAP!"

"On it!" Ren yelled, in a rare show of enthusiasm. "2210 Alaran Dr. it is!"

As the van sped off, all the energy that had been lost throughout the course of the night amongst the van was instantly restored in tenfold.

"We're gonna actually find Casey!" Nora cheered. "Yang, you're the fucking best!"

"Ah, shucks," Yang grinned coyly. "I try my best. Besides, it's monkey-boy you should be thanking."

"There's something to be said about making friends with strangers, I suppose." Pyrrha gave her an assuring grin. "Maybe it was a good idea we let you loose?"

"Oh, don't be silly!" Yang laughed. "We were all strangers at the beginning of the night. I think that kind of strategy has all the merit in the world!"

"Hey Yang!" Nora whipped back from her seat once more. "You should probably give Blake and Jaune a call. They would be pissed if we let them miss out on Casey."

"Oh, right! Good call, Nora!" And with that, Yang excitedly placed the call.

* * *

Blake purred.

Jaune chuckled. "You usually make those kinds of noises when you're happy?"

"Uh, no! No, I…" Blake protested… and relented. "Yeah, I do."

And with good reason as well. It had been a long time since she had been intimate with anyone, and here she was, wrapped up in blankets and spooning with someone she had just met that night.

She didn't regret a bit of it.

"Well…" Jaune smiled at her as he nuzzled her under their blanket. "I think it's kinda cute. Along with the rest of you, of course."

Blake laughed softly. "The feeling is mutual. I… I've had a wonderful time with you tonight."

"Thanks, Blake." Jaune pressed his face against hers, caressing her in the process. "I've had a wonderful night with you, too."

Blake smiled and turned to graze her lips against his face, as she began to lose herself in his warmth. "I wouldn't be opposed if this lasted forever…"

The sudden ring of her phone snapped them both out of their bliss.

"Fuck… sorry Jaune…" Blake woozily began to apologize profusely.

Jaune waved her off. "Nah, don't worry about it."

The faunus girl nodded appreciatively, and reached down for her phone to answer it.

"Hello…?"

"_BLAKE!"_

"Waaaaarrrgh!" Blake jumped at the loud noise that attacked her ear, accidentally popping the blonde in his chin with her shoulder. "H-huh? Yang? Jesus Christ…"

"Geez…" groaned Jaune, rubbing his sore mandible. "What does _she _want?"

"I've got no idea," the faunus girl hissed at him, before returning to the call. "Yang… aren't you supposed to be home by now?"

"_No time for that! We found Casey! They're at 2210 Alaran Dr! Hurry! They're gonna play soon!"_

"I… what?" The faunus girl's interest was suddenly piqued. "Come again?"

"_Blake, you and Jaune – I'm assuming you found him – you guys need to go now! It's fucking Casey, and they're set to play any minute now!"_

"R-right."

"_So… meet you there?"_

"Y-yeah. Totally… we will. Bye, Yang."

The faunus girl hung up in a daze.

"Well," Jaune nibbled at her ear. "What was that all about?"

Blake shivered breathlessly as the impact of the news finally hit her. "Jaune. They've found Casey. They actually found Casey!"

The blonde eyes immediately widened at the news. "They… did?"

"Yeah! C'mon, we need to go now!" Blake's excitement was at a peak level for the whole night. "They'll be playing very soon, Jaune, we have to hurry!"

"Well, let's go then!"

Blake jumped out from the warmth of the blanket. "My bow. My bow, Jaune, where's my bow?"

"Check your pants pocket!" he shouted, as he tried to unravel himself from the couch as well.

Emphasis on the words "tried to."

Blake watched in horror as the blonde's jeans fell from his waist and slid to his ankles, forcing him into an awkward stumble as he fell face-first into the studio floor with a resounding smack!

As quickly as it came, Blake's horror dissipated into mirth as she burst out into laughter at the spectacle before her.

"Yeah, laugh it up, Blake," grumbled Jaune as he staggered to his feet. "Goddammit, I'm missing my belt."

"Yeah… you might want that… can't see how you could… function without it!" Blake gasped as her body rattled with laughter, with her arms clutching her sides.

"Oh, c'mon, it wasn't that funny…" Jaune frowned.

"I'm sorry… it totally was…" Blake wiped a tear from her eye. "Fuck, I'm crying… oh, man… whew!"

"Alright, maybe it was a little funny," Jaune conceded before quickly throwing her the Ensign-J jacket. "Here's your jacket, we gotta go now!"

"Right," Blake smiled, somewhat composed now. "Ready whenever you are."

* * *

The current venue was significantly different from the previous two venues with the main difference being that this particular venue was a rooftop terrace. Blake and Jaune had to circle around the block several times before eventually realizing that clusters after clusters of young, hip folk were accessing a staircase hidden discreetly between two stores.

The two parked a stone's throw away and made a mad dash across the street and up the stairs, aware that time was ticking away.

The sight that greeted them at the top of the stairwell took their breaths away. Such an open environment provided unfiltered access to the cold night air, and their breaths visibly floated before them. The edges of the venue were lined with a garden variety of vegetation, but not to the point of excess. Wood paneling mixed with slate to fill in the floors in decadent patterning. Indie-alternative music floated in the background, feeding quite nicely into the established ambiance.

Strings of lights illuminated the whole scene, giving it even more of an atmospheric feel. A surprising amount of Casey enthusiasts occupied the moderately-sized terrace, conversing excitedly amongst one another despite the late (or rather early) hours of the day.

"Jaune," Blake pulled on his arm excitedly. "I see them!"

Across the venue, Yang waved emphatically at the two. "Hey you guys!" Behind her, Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha looked up and waved as well.

"Hey!" Blake waved back with a grin. She turned to the blonde. "You feeling alright?"

Jaune grinned back. "Better than ever."

They walked hand-in-hand over to the rest of the gang.

Nora was the first to notice this. "Fucking finally!"

"Nora!" Ren elbowed her. "Not cool."

"Nah, I gotta agree with her," added Yang. "Fucking finally, for sure. You lovable idiots," she smirked, directing the last part of her statement towards Blake and Jaune.

"Says the one who got drunk and got lost in the city," retorted Blake playfully.

Yang grinned. "If I didn't get stupid drunk, you two might not have gotten together."

"She's not wrong," mused Jaune.

Blake rolled her eyes. "Don't encourage her."

Yang laughed. "Hey, I'm just trying to get some lovely people who deserve to be together… together. I'm a pretty good matchmaker, alright? Cut me some slack here, kitty-cat."

"Y'know, I could cut you some slack."

They all turned to the voice behind Yang.

Sun stood there somewhat awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "Uh… that sounded better in my head… I think."

Yang's bravado melted slightly, but her smile remained. "Well, hey you."

"Hey." Sun grinned sheepishly.

Blake blinked and leaned towards Jaune. "What."

"You mean you couldn't tell?" Jaune teased back.

Nora jumped, whooping. "Errbody gettin' some love tonight! I ship it all!"

"What's a 'ship?'" Pyrrha's brow furrowed.

"It's a rabbit hole of madness, is what it is," Ren deadpanned.

Yang laughed at her friends' shenanigans and turned back to Sun. "You… wanna dance?"

"Dance?" Sun smirked. "Sure, I could use some dancing."

"Well, then," Yang hummed, a sly smile on her face. "Lead the way, handsome."

The two pulled away from the group, and Jaune watched them head farther up the edge of the crowd.

And near where they walked, Jaune caught sight of a familiar white-haired girl, accompanied by her blue-haired date.

She looked up as Sun and Yang passed by and smiled at them in greeting.

Turning her head slightly, she made eye contact with Jaune. He watched her eyes widen in recognition, then soften slightly.

She smiled at him.

There was a hint of sadness in it, but for the most part, she seemed happy.

Jaune smiled back.

The girl smiled wider, before turning towards the blue-haired boy beside her, and they linked arms before following after the blonde girl and the monkey faunus, disappearing slowly into the crowd.

Blake, at this point, had noticed what Jaune was staring at. "Is that who I think it is?"

"Yep," he replied, turning towards the faunus girl.

She narrowed her eyes after the white-haired girl. "Is she going to be any trouble?"

"No." The blonde kissed Blake lightly on the forehead. "You won't have to worry about her."

Blake smiled and blushed at his gesture.

Unfortunately, they soon found something else to worry about.

"BLAKE!"

Both Jaune and Blake whipped around and found a surly and very drunk Adam stalking up to the pair, followed by his disgruntled goons.

Behind the pair, Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha readied themselves for any confrontation that awaited them.

Adam pointed at the faunus girl. "Whaaatha fuck didya do to our fuckin' bill?" he slurred. "Why didya leave me? Tha fuck did I do?"

Blake remained smugly silent and refused to make eye contact with the bull-man. She placed a hand on Jaune's chest and gently pushed him back a few steps.

Adam looked back and forth between the blonde, then to Blake, then back again.

"Oh, I see," he snarled. "You gonna leave me for this chump? Wass he gonna do for ya? Nothing I could ever give ya. He ain't even half my size!"

The bull-man stepped forward menacingly. "Ya think you can just leave me? I'm too fuckin' good for you ta leave me, ya whore!" With that, he lurched forward and shoved Jaune.

"Okay," Pyrrha spoke up suddenly. "I've just about had enough of this."

She walked briskly up to Adam, pulled her head back, and in one fell swoop, Pyrrha promptly head-butted the bull-man.

A loud _craaaack!_ sounded as the redhead's forehead easily broke Adam's nose, and the parts of the crowd nearer to them let out a collective gasp at the sight.

"AAAARRRRGGH! You bisch! You fuggin broke my noshe!"

The bull-man crumpled, falling back onto his goons as Pyrrha almost lazily wiped the blood that had splattered across her face.

Ren's jaw dropped, and Nora whooped. "Awww hell yeah! Our drummer's a badass!"

Blake's pent-up nervous energy came out as mirth, and planted her head against Jaune's chest as her body rattled with laughter. "I did _not_ see that coming."

Jaune chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Neither did I."

The bull-man stumbled back up to them, desperately trying to stop the stream of blood as it flowed like wine out of his nose. "Blakey, c'mon. You don' need this punk."

Blake turned and stared at him. "Are you fucking serious right now?"

"I'm all ya need, baby," Adam reached a hand out to her. "Whaddya say?"

The faunus girl shirked at his gesture and looked up and Jaune.

The blonde nodded.

Blake smiled, and she took his hand, pulling him against the gradient of people, away from the lights and the sounds, back the way they came.

Adam roared after them as they descended down the staircase. "Well fug you! Fug you and your blonde boy-toy! I'll make it on my own! I don' even need you or Ozhpin's help! Don' come cryin' when I get fuggin' rich and famoush!"

"Yeah, that ain't gonna happen," chirped Nora.

The bull-man glared at her but backed off once Pyrrha stared them down.

Ren leaned back against the walls of the terrace and sighed. "Guess Blake and Jaune are gone again. They _do _know that they'll be missing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, right?"

Nora leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Let them have their moment."

Ren smiled. "I suppose you're right."

Suddenly, the crowd began to cheer. Pyrrha pointed at the stage. "You two, Casey's coming on!"

The terrace roared in approval as the infamous band finally took the stage.

A feminine voice rang through the mic. "Hey everyone, we're Casey and the Red Rosies. How's everyone doing tonight?"

The night air filled with the cheers of the hour's happiest people in Remnant.

* * *

The pair finally reached Jaune's car, even as the nearby commotion from across the street rang out all the way to where they stood.

Jaune paused for a moment at the side of his door, taking in the beauty of the sky as it began to change colors.

"Well," he inhaled deeply, the chill of the air filling his lungs. "We missed the show, but damn has it been a crazy-ass night."

When Blake didn't respond, he glanced backwards, watching her walk up to him slowly with her eyes downcast. "Hey… what's wrong?"

Blake looked up at him uncertainly. "Are you… are you sad that we missed it?"

"Missed it?" Jaune beamed at her. "Blake… this _is _it."

He unlocked the car, and it beeped in response.

"It's 4 in the morning. Let's go home."

Blake smiled with unbridled happiness. She pressed herself against him and kissed the blonde deeply, and he kissed her back.

And as they kissed, the night began to dissolve above them, quietly ushering in the morning sun once more.

* * *

_**Epilogue**_

* * *

Blake hurried up the familiar stairwell.

She was late, and she was usually never late for _anything_.

With a final lurch, she stepped upon the rooftop terrace again. The air was not as cold as it was the last time – in fact, it was rather warm, but not overbearingly so. It was indeed the perfect weather for a concert.

But this time, it wasn't Casey who was playing.

There was already a crowd here, which was definitely encouraging, and Blake grew even happier as she spotted out Yang on the outskirts of the crowd. She ran over to join her best friend.

"Hey, kitty-cat!" grinned the blonde, greeting her friend with a hug. "What took you? I didn't think you were gonna miss this for the world?"

"I know, I know," Blake admitted with a sigh. "Ozpin needed some help mixing this one band called Always Here, Never There. I didn't even realize what time it was when we finished."

Yang chuckled. "You've gotten even busier since you got that job back."

"Yeah…" Blake shrugged. "That's my own fault. I'd forgotten how time-consuming that job is. Not to say that I don't enjoy every single moment of it."

"Well, I'm glad that you've got a job that makes you happy."

"Me too. Sometimes I feel like I don't work a day in my life, and I'm very fortunate because of it." Blake eyed Yang strangely. "No drinks today?"

"Nah," Yang laughed. "Ever since me and Sun started dating… I just don't feel the need to do that anymore. I feel happy enough knowing that whenever I need to let loose, I can just go see the fool."

Blake smiled. "You've slowed down."

Yang smiled back. "Maybe. I don't think so. But enough about me. Check out the hottie on bass."

Blake turned to the direction Yang was pointing in, towards the band that was currently playing on stage.

Pyrrha sat behind a drum kit, pounding out a clean but energetic rhythm, occasionally providing either a flourish of drum fills or showing off with a fluid and uninterrupted stick flip.

Ren did what he did best, speaking with the guitar rather than a vocal part of any kind. His foot sometimes navigated along a pedalboard, and he made guitar look way too easy.

Nora was now set up with a decent keyboard, which complimented Ren's guitar playing whenever it could, and she even soloed every now and again. She provided backing vocals for the moment, when usually she would be singing lead.

And playing the bass and the current lead vocals, of course, was Jaune.

Blake smiled as she recognized and absorbed the lyrics that Jaune sang, the very same lyrics he recorded with her all that time ago.

_"We only want to have a good time,_

_Flying by wire, we cross the green line,_

_We ride fast, they take their sweet time,_

_We only want to have a good time, good time…"_

When the song drew to its close, the crowd cheered, and Blake found herself cheering with them, shaking off the familiar chills that ran down her spine.

Jaune grinned and spoke into the mic. "Thank you! We are The Junniperberries, and we'll be playing here for an hour, if you'll have us! This next song's for a certain someone who means the world to me. It's called 'Best Girl.'"

Blake watched as he proceeded to make eye contact with her, and she gave him a warm smile.

He winked back.

"Awww, he gave you a shout-out!" Yang teased, and Blake couldn't help but feel her cheeks grow hot as she grinned coyly.

Nora chimed in at the mic. "Jauney sings some French in this one, so go wild, ladies!"

* * *

An hour came and went, and as the last of the crowd cleared out, Blake made her way towards the blonde bassist as he cleaned up parts of his set.

"Hey."

He looked up and grinned. "Hey. What did you think?"

Blake smiled. "I thought you guys did wonderful. You definitely drew a big crowd today."

"Oh, yeah," Jaune nodded. "Definitely took me by surprise, though I can't complain."

"You don't give yourself enough credit." Blake climbed onstage. "I think the turnout today shows just how big you guys will become."

"Only time will tell," smiled Jaune. "Hindsight's twenty-twenty, right?"

"I guess so." Blake shuffled a moment. "Hey, what are you doing later tonight?"

"Well…" Jaune zipped up his bass bag. "We just gotta load up all our stuff and bring it back home. I'll be done around 7… ish."

"Alright." Blake smiled. "Maybe afterwards you should come to my place. I'll cook us something to eat, and I was thinking either we could watch the X-Ray and Vav movie on Dustflix or listen to both the new Dashing Ice album and Nox's new album. Ozpin let me borrow them for a while."

Jaune smirked. "It's not like you need to convince me to come over. I would've said yes at 'maybe you should come over.'"

Blake punched his shoulder playfully. "Hush, you."

The blonde laughed. "Okay, okay. See you then?"

The faunus girl nodded happily. "See you then."

Jaune kissed her goodbye, and with a carefree smile, she walked out of the venue.

He watched her go, wondering where along the way Lady Luck had smiled upon him for him to have a girlfriend as beautiful and amazing as Blake, and with a contented sigh, Jaune started whistling and went back to work.

* * *

**And there you have it! All is well, my friends. All is well.**

**Of course, this is not the end of the story! Tales of the Music AU will now be updated more regularly in continuance of this story, so I recommend you guys and gals keep that on your radar.**

**I would also like to take the time to plug my other big projects that I'm working on: Ten Little Hunters, which is interactive with YOU, the readers, and returns this Tuesday at 7:30pm CT!**

**Also, please check out Friends, Again. It's an Arkos fic that explores the breakdown of their relationship and sees how (or if) they can ever recover. It's got a much more serious tone, so be wary of that.**

**Well you guys... it's been a fucking wild ride. And I am more than overjoyed and humbled that you all have decided to take this trip with me, so if I haven't said it before, thank you so much for all your support. This fic was as good as it was because you guys had my back this whole time. I love each and every one of you.**

**Until we meet again, this has been UhhICanExplain, at your service. See you in another story!**


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